X. Haemoglobin studies of Yemenite and Kurdish Jews in Israel

Abstract

Haemolysates from Yemenite and Kurdish Jews now living in Israel were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively by starch gel electrophoresis. No electrophoretically separable haemoglobin variants were detected in any of the haemolysates. The Hb-A ₂ levels were elevated above the upper normal limit (3.5% of total haemoglobin) in 9.2% of the Yemenite Jews and 24.5% of the Kurdish Jews. These findings suggest that the approximate frequencies of the gene for β-thalassaemia may be of the order of 0.05 and 0.1 respectively in these previously expatriate Jewish communities. The high incidence of the β-thalassaemia trait in the Kurdish Jewish subjects is in agreement with previous studies on Jewish communities of Kurdish origin. No previous reports of β-thalassaemia in Yemenite Jews appear to have been recorded.