Linkage between deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and colour-blindness

HEREDITARY susceptibility to hæmolysis by drugs and fava beans is believed to be due to a single sex-linked gene. This mode of inheritance would best explain the familial and population data, as summarized recently by Childs and Zinkham¹. The main element of uncertainty regarding this hypothesis arises from the great variability of the measured blood abnormalities in heterozygous females (in vitro glutathione stability test and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity).