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the scientist who connected sickle-cell anemia with an increased survival rate from malaria was which of the following?

The scientist who first connected sickle‑cell anemia with increased survival from malaria was Anthony C. Allison.

Quick Scoop

  • In the 1950s, British-Kenyan scientist Anthony C. Allison studied populations in East Africa and noticed that people carrying one sickle‑cell gene (the HbAS heterozygous state) were less likely to die from severe malaria.
  • His work provided classic evidence of natural selection in humans: the sickle‑cell trait is harmful in the homozygous state (sickle‑cell disease) but offers a survival advantage against malaria when present in just one copy.

This connection between sickle‑cell trait and malaria resistance is now a textbook example of how genetic variants can persist in human populations because they confer an advantage in a specific environment.

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