MIF and malaria: Previous studies have determined the frequency of the MIF promoter polymorphisms and their contribution for systemic autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (Donn et al., 2004; Llamas‐Covarrubias et al., 2013), systemic lupus erythematosus (De la Cruz‐Mosso et al., 2014; Sreih et al., 2011), sarcoidosis, and multiple sclerosis (Castañeda‐Moreno et al., 2018); or infectious pathologies such as active pulmonary tuberculosis (Kuai et al., 2016) and malaria (Awandare, Martinson, Were, Ouma, & Gregory, 2009).