The increased IgA aPL levels in African populations might reflectmucosal immunity and/or molecular cross-reactivity with infectious agents.Conventionally speaking, infection-related aPL should mostly react with thecardiolipin moiety (and not with the added co-factors), but an increase inanti-β2GPI was also reported in South African patients with viral andparasitic infections.37 Therefore, further investigations of antibodies against individual domains ofβ2GPI or other pathogenic ‘non-criteria’ aPL could be of value inthese populations. Here, CD79A is linked to infection.