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Sickle Cell Disease : A Blood Disorder

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Sickle Cell Disease Sickle cell disease is a hereditary blood disorder caused by an abnormal hemoglobin in the red blood cell. Hemoglobin is a type of protein that carries oxygen in the body. In order for someone to have sickle cell disease they would need to have been passed down from at each one of their parents, by inheriting a total of two hemoglobin genes. The fact that this is a hereditary disease means that it is not considered to be contagious. This disease comes in about six different forms, but the most severe of them all is sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell is an inherited disease that affects the red blood cells causing debilitating symptoms, however, with treatment people with this disease can quite possibly live an otherwise …show more content…

(NHLBI, 2015) There are a few scenarios of the passing of the disease or trait from the parent to the offspring. If one parent has the gene it can be passed to the child, causing the child to be a carrier of the trait. In other words, the child will be able to produce normal hemoglobin as well as the sickle shaped hemoglobin. They will also be able to pass it to their offspring. If both parents carry the trait the child has a 50 percent chance of being a carrier, percent chance of not getting the gene at all, and 25 percent chance of having sickle cell anemia. In most cases, people with sickle cell begin experiencing symptoms at the age of 4 months’ symptoms include fatigue which happens due to the loss of red blood cells after they rupture as they are extremely fragile. Another symptom will be the pain, it develops when other is a blockage within the blood vessels in your chest, abdomen, and joints. Intensity varies and can even lead to hospitalization. Delayed growth and vision problems of blood cells blocking areas of the body. You are more prone to infections and will also experience swelling of the hands and feet. The gene is most common in countries such as Africam India, Mediterranean countries, Sauda Arabia, the Caribbean islands, South and Central America, and also in the United States. According to American Society of Hematology, the United States, sickle cell is mostly in the black community.

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