Typically, the disease results in premature death. Because the genetic disorder is incompletely recessive, a person with only one SCA allele and one unaffected allele will have a "mixed" phenotype: The sufferer will not experience the ill effects of the disease, yet will still possess a sickle cell trait, whereby some of the red blood cells undergo benign effects of SCA, but nothing severe enough to be harmful. Those afflicted with sickle-cell trait are also known as carriers: If two carriers have a child, there is a 25% chance their child will have SCA, a 50% chance their child will be a carrier, and a 25% chance that the child will neither have SCA nor be a carrier. Were the presence of the SCA allele to confer only negative traits, its allele frequency would be expected to decrease generation after generation, until its presence were eliminated by selection and by chance. However, convincing evidence indicates, in areas with persistent malaria outbreaks, individuals with the heterozygous state have a distinct advantage (and this is why individuals with heterozygous alleles are far more common in these areas). Those with the benign sickle trait possess a resistance to malarial infection. The pathogen that causes the disease spends part of its cycle in the red blood cells and triggers an abnormal drop in oxygen levels in the cell. In carriers, this drop is sufficient to trigger the full sickle-cell reaction, which leads to infected cells being rapidly removed from circulation and strongly limiting the infection's progress. These individuals have a great resistance to infection and have a greater chance of surviving outbreaks. However, those with two alleles for SCA may survive malaria, but will typically die from their genetic disease unless they have access to advanced medical care. Those of the homozygous "normal" or wild-type case will have a greater chance of passing on their genes successfully, in that there is no chance of their offspring's suffering from SCA; yet, they are more susceptible to dying from malarial infection before they have a chance to pass on their genes. This resistance to infection is the main reason the SCA allele and SCA disease still exist. It is found in greatest frequency in populations where malaria was and often still is a serious problem. Approximately one in 10 African Americans is a carrier, as their recent ancestry is from malaria-stricken regions. Other populations in Africa,