Danielle George - All Headline News Staff Reporter

London (AHN)- Scientists believe they have uncovered why people with a gene for a blood disorder are immune to malaria.

It is known that people with a single gene for sickle cell anaemia, but not the full-blown condition, are somewhat resistant to the malaria parasite.

Some say the distorted red blood cells caused by the gene are broken down quicker than normal by the body so malaria has no home in which to thrive.

Lead researcher Dr. Tom Williams said: "It has been known for some time that sickle cell trait offers this protection, but the accelerated level of immunity in the first years of life has not been revealed before." He said there were several possible reasons why this happened, but that further research was needed to know for sure.

Dr. Colin Sutherland, of the Health Protection Agency's Malaria Reference Laboratory at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: "If these results are confirmed by further studies, then children with the mild form of sickle cell anaemia will have provided a new model for understanding the natural process of becoming immune to malaria."