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Hb S heterozigotica e tuberculose pulmonar (Sickle cell trait and pulmonary tuberculosis)

Carmen Silvia Bertuzzo Martins; Antonio Sérgio Ramalho; Walter Pinto Júnior

Departamento de Genética Médica, Faculdade de Ciências Médias, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Caixa Postal 6.111, 13083 Campinas, SP, Brasil. Enviar correspondência para A.S.R.

ABSTRACT

Reports on the sickle cell trait and pulmonary tuberculosis are rare and controversial, since the association of these conditions is claimed by some authors and denied by others. A current hypothesis is that the prevalence of the sickle cell trait may be increased only among Black patients during the initial stage of treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. According to this hypothesis, AS individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis may seek treatment earlier than AA individuals.
In the present study, the sickle cell trait was investigated among 300 Southeastern-Brazilian Blacks (109 Negroes and 191 Mulattoes) who were under treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis in several sanatoria.
The frequency of AS individuals among them (8.6%) was not significantly higher than expected for Southeastern-Brazilian Blacks. Moreover, the frequency of the sickle cell trait among the patients in the initial phase of treatment (<6 months) was not significantly different from that found among patients with more than one year of treatment. Also, no association was found between the sickle cell trait and sex or age.
These results, though not excluding the possibility that the sickle cell trait may provoke effects of clinical significance in Black patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, indicate that such effects may not affect the frequency of AS individuals among them.

Keywords: sickle; cell; trait; pulmonary; tuberculosis.

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