Two signals near well-known malaria protective variants in HBB and ABO were detected in a meta-analysis including 5,425 cases [1], while a previous GWA study did not identify any variants exceeding the genomewide threshold until after the causal sickle cell trait mutation itself (HbS) was genotyped, illustrating the difficulties of covering genetic variability in African populations [2]. The gene discussed is ABO; the disease is malaria.