Recent work studying the host genetic contribution to severe malaria identified a SNV allele at a nearby non-repeated region in linkage disequilibrium with a complex structural variant at the glycophorin locus protective against severe malaria.5, 20 This structural variant, called DUP4, is restricted to East African populations and is responsible for a glycophorin B-glycophorin A fusion gene product that is detected using serology as the blood group antigen Dantu NE+. Here, GYPA is linked to malaria.