Furthermore, carriage of the sickle cell trait was associated with protection from anaemia [odds ratio (OR) = 0.50, 95%CI 0.31-0.80, p=0.004] while a polymorphism in the IL10 gene was associated with protection, albeit weak, from severe malaria (Table 4).The presence of the rs1800896 SNP in the gene encoding IL10 was associated with decreased risk of cerebral malaria (TT vs CT vs CC, OR=0.41, 95%CI 0.19-0.88, p=0.017) and while rs1800896 CT/CC individuals were more protected from hyperpyrexia (OR=0.60, 95%CI 0.40-0.90, p=0.014) (Table 4). This evidence concerns the gene IL10 and cerebral malaria.