Haemoglobinopathies in black communities living along the banks of the rivers Cayapas and Onzoles, in the Eloy Alfaro canton, in the province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador.

Abstract

Blood samples from 1,364 individuals of Black race, inhabitants of the area bordering the Cayapas and Onzoles rivers, located in the northwest corner of the Esmeraldas' province, were analysed for haemoglobinopathies by means of haemoglobin electrophoresis using cellulose acetate and citrate agar plates. Of the studied population, 75.7% (1,032) were found to have normal haemoglobin and 24.3% (332) had some homoglobin variant. The rnost frequent variant was Hb.AS with 84.9% (282), followed by Hb.AF 9.6% (32), Hb.SS 2.7% (9), Hb.FS 2.4% (8) and Hb.FF 0.3% (1). The highest prevalence of haemoglobinopathies (31.8%) was detected in young people, 0-9 years of age, and in those aged 10-1 9 (25.8%). A higher prevalence was found in males than females throughout the two river areas studied. On the Cayapas river, cetiain geographical areas were found to have a high prevalence of haemoglobinopathies such as in Trinidad (45.5%) and Santa María (37.9%), while on the Onzoles river the prevalence was more uniform. These findings are discussed, particularly the prevalence of the genotype Hb .SS (2.7%) and the one case (0.3%) with Hb.FF electrophoretic characteristics which requires more detailed study.