• *P. falciparum* parasitaemia

In cross-sectional studies, α-thalassaemia was not associated with the prevalence of parasitaemia [79, 103, 112, 114, 115]. In prospective study of children conducted in Papua New Guinea, both α- thalassaemia homozygotes and heterozygotes had fewer episodes of PCR-detectable parasitaemia than those without α thalassaemia, [115, 116] though this outcome has not been investigated in other studies.

Finally, there is no evident data to confirm a protective effect of α-thalassaemia against asymptomatic parasitaemia [112, 114].
