deficiency, G6PD

deficiency, G6PD Deficiency of the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), the most common enzyme defect of medical importance. The frequency of G6PD deficiency is increased in blacks and people of Mediterranean origin (including Italians, Greeks, Arabs, and Jews). Persons with this enzyme deficiency can develop anemia due to the breakup of their red blood cells when they are first born and when they are exposed to certain drugs, naphthalene moth balls, fava beans, fever, viral and bacterial infections, and diabetic acidosis. Drugs that can stimulate the anemia include the antimalarials hydroxychloroquine and primaquine, salicylates, dapsone, sulfonamide antibiotics, nitrofurans, phenacetin, and some vitamin K derivatives.