preview

A Short Note On Thalassemia And Its Effects On The Body

Satisfactory Essays

Introduction
One of the major causes of microcytic anemia is Thalassemia. It is a very common hereditary blood disorder where the proteins called hemoglobin, which are located in red blood cells and have the function of carrying oxygen, are abnormally formed. It is mainly because of an imbalance in the production of alpha or beta globin. To be normal, one must have an equal production of both alpha and beta globin in their body. However, when the body does not produce this in equal proportions, it causes a condition such an Anemia. Anemia is a disorder where your body does not have enough healthy red blood cells to transport enough oxygen in the body. The Thalassemia disease is caused due a genetic mutation, or a deletion on very certain key genes.
History
Dating back to the early 1900s was when Sickle cell disease was first discovered. Studies from different Pathologist and researchers concluded the abnormal shapes of hemoglobin, which back then was referred to as “hemoglobin S”, caused that sickle cell disease. This disease however was only understood at a biomechanical level, researchers had only grasped the concept that the changing shape of the hemoglobin was due to the change in a single amino acid error in hemoglobin S.
Any progress in this field was only developed in the early 1970s during the civil right movements. The only reason that there was no significant research that was done in the field back then especially in the United States of America was because the

Get Access