Sickle Cell Anemia is a lifelong blood disease, in which red blood cells are in an abnormal sickle (crescent) shape, instead of being shaped like a disc.
Inheritance of Sickle Cell Anemia
Sickle Cell Anemia is inherited from both parents, and is a mutation, each parent usually carries a copy of the mutated gene. However they themselves don't have Sickle Cell Anemia (which means they are simply carriers of Sickle Cell Anemia). If you only have one parent with Sickle Cell Anemia, you can also recieve a trait of Sickle Cell, however you will have no side effects. Sickle Cell Anemia is caused from an abnormal type of hemoglobin, called hemoglobin s. (Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen.) The hemoglobin s carries less oxygen to the bodies tissues than normal and often gets caught in the blood vessels.
The image shows how sickle cell genes are inherited. A person inherits two copies of the hemoglobin gene—one from each parent. A normal gene will make normal hemoglobin (A). An abnormal (sickle cell) gene will make abnormal hemoglobin (S). When each parent has a normal gene and an abnormal gene, each child has: a 25 percent chance of inheriting two normal genes; a 50 percent chance of inheriting one normal gene and one abnormal gene; and a 25 percent chance of inheriting two abnormal genes.
Sickle Cell Anemia may cause symptoms usually don't occur until after 4 months of age.
jaundice, (yellowing eyes)
bone pain
ulcers
"Sickle Cell Crisis" (pain in lungs, abdomen, or join.)
fatigue
slowed growth to puberty
breathlessness
susceptibility to infections
paleness
strokes
Organ failure can happen and usually causes the patients to only be able to live up to the age of fifty.
Cure
Although their is a cure for Sickle cell anemia, (bone marrow transplants), most patients can't find a match for bone marrow and they will not necessarily cure everyone. Treatments are used in some cases to control and manage the symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia. Treatment is regularly needed to control the pain that people with Sickle Cell Anemia often get, the drug Hydroxyurea is sometimes used to control the pain, and vaccines are given to prevent infections. People with Sickle Cell Anemia should also avoid going to high altitudes (over twelve thousand feet) because it can cause trouble for breathing.
Who's At Risk
Sickle Cell Anemia is most common in people from African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent. Over 70,000 Americans have Sickle Cell Anemia. One in five hundred African Americans has Sickle Cell Anemia.
FACTS
Gene Therapy is being looked at for future treatment of Sickle Cell Anemia.
Tionne Watkins from TLC had Sickle Cell Anemia.
About one in twelve African Americans is a carrier of Sickle Cell
Sickle Cell Anemia
Sickle Cell Anemia is a lifelong blood disease, in which red blood cells are in an abnormal sickle (crescent) shape, instead of being shaped like a disc.
Inheritance of Sickle Cell Anemia
Sickle Cell Anemia is inherited from both parents, and is a mutation, each parent usually carries a copy of the mutated gene. However they themselves don't have Sickle Cell Anemia (which means they are simply carriers of Sickle Cell Anemia). If you only have one parent with Sickle Cell Anemia, you can also recieve a trait of Sickle Cell, however you will have no side effects. Sickle Cell Anemia is caused from an abnormal type of hemoglobin, called hemoglobin s. (Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen.) The hemoglobin s carries less oxygen to the bodies tissues than normal and often gets caught in the blood vessels.
Sickle Cell Anemia may cause
symptoms usually don't occur until after 4 months of age.
- jaundice, (yellowing eyes)
- bone pain
- ulcers
- "Sickle Cell Crisis" (pain in lungs, abdomen, or join.)
- fatigue
- slowed growth to puberty
- breathlessness
- susceptibility to infections
- paleness
- strokes
Organ failure can happen and usually causes the patients to only be able to live up to the age of fifty.Cure
Although their is a cure for Sickle cell anemia, (bone marrow transplants), most patients can't find a match for bone marrow and they will not necessarily cure everyone. Treatments are used in some cases to control and manage the symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia. Treatment is regularly needed to control the pain that people with Sickle Cell Anemia often get, the drug Hydroxyurea is sometimes used to control the pain, and vaccines are given to prevent infections. People with Sickle Cell Anemia should also avoid going to high altitudes (over twelve thousand feet) because it can cause trouble for breathing.
Who's At Risk
Sickle Cell Anemia is most common in people from African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent. Over 70,000 Americans have Sickle Cell Anemia. One in five hundred African Americans has Sickle Cell Anemia.
FACTS
Sources
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Sca/SCA_WhatIs.html
http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/genetic/sickle_cell_anemia.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sickle-cell-anemia/DS00324
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=sicklecelldisease