Splenomegaly in school children in a remote tribal area of Dhole district, Maharashtra.

Sickle-cell gene is known to protect against P. falciparum infection and provides a selective survival advantage in those areas where P. falciparum infection is endemic. This protection is not absolute and many other factors, inherited and acquired also contribute to the immunity against P. falciparum infection. We investigated incidence of splenomegaly and typical history of malaria in the past two years in apparently healthy school children in a tribal area in Dhole district of Maharashtra to see whether the incidence of malaria (splenomegaly and typical history) was different in children having sickle-cell trait to that of those who did not have this trait. A total of 480 school children were clinically examined for splenomegaly and history of typical malaria fever and/or blood slide positivity for malaria in the past two years. About 9.55 per cent of normal population had either splenomegaly or convincing history of malarial infection in the past two years which is not statistically different from the sickle-cell trait patients having evidence of past malaria (8.79 per cent; p > 0.05).