Abstract
THE red blood cells of mammalian vertebrates, including man, are normally round, except those of the camel, which are characteristically oval in shape. Less than 15 per cent of the red blood corpuscles in normal healthy men are oval, but in severe anaemias the number of oval cells in the peripheral blood may become much higher. This symptomatic ovalocytosis in severe anaemias is to be distinguished from hereditary ovalocytosis, or elliptocytosis, first described by Dresbach1 in 1904. In the hereditary condition, more than 25 per cent of the red blood cells are oval or elliptic, and elliptic rod-shaped cells are more common than in the symptomatic condition. The two conditions can usually be distinguished, with experience, but the diagnosis can only be confirmed by demonstration of a family occurrence. Incidence of the hereditary condition in the general population has previously been estimated at approximately 0.04 per cent2,3, although more prevalent in Dutch, German and Italian families4,5. A focus of high frequency of hereditary ovalocytosis (elliptocytosis) has been reported from central Celebes6. I now report another focus of high frequency of hereditary ovalocytosis (elliptocytosis) in Malayan aborigines.
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References
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Lie-Injo Luan Eng and Chin, J., Nature, 204, 291 (1964).
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LIE-INJO LUAN ENG Hereditary Ovalocytosis and Haemoglobin E-Ovalocytosis in Malayan Aborigines. Nature 208, 1329 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/2081329a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2081329a0
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