Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is associated with asymptomatic malaria in a rural community in Burkina Faso

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate 4 combinations of mutations responsible for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency in a rural community of Burkina Faso, a malaria endemic country.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two hundred individuals in a rural community were genotyped for the mutations A376G, G202A, A542T, G680T and T968C using TaqMan single nucleotide polymorphism assays and polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The prevalence of the G6PD deficiency was 9.5% in the study population. It was significantly higher in men compared to women (14.3% vs 6.0%, P=0.049). The 202A/376G G6PD A- was the only deficient variant detected. Plasmodium falciparum asymptomatic parasitaemia was significantly higher among the G6PD-non-deficient persons compared to the G6PD-deficient (P<0.001). The asymptomatic parasitaemia was also significantly higher among G6PD non-deficient compared to G6PD-heterozygous females (P<0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This study showed that the G6PD A- variant associated with protection against asymptomatic malaria in Burkina Faso is probably the most common deficient variant.</p>