How Did Sickle Cell Anemia Come About?
The red fluid that circulates in our veins and arteries is none other than blood! Is blood important? But of course it is! Blood’s main function is to act as the body’s transport system and also plays a major role in the body’s defense system against infections (America’s Blood Centers, 2012). Among many things, blood contains red blood cells, the component that carries oxygen to cells, and carbon dioxide away. (ABC, 2012). However, blood disorders pose a threat to the health of the body, sometimes requiring the host to have blood transfusions in order to survive (National Institute of Health, 2012). A particular blood disorder of interest is sickle cell anemia, a condition that affects 300,000 people born every year!
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The shape of a sickle cell is basically a crescent moon or a "sickle" shape, hence the name. The sickle cells can get stuck in small arteries and veins because of their infamous shape and inability to squeeze through small areas, something regular red blood cells can do. The cause for this mutation is in the hemoglobin, a protein inside the red blood cell, which is what holds the oxygen being transported throughout the body (NIH, 2015). There is currently no cure for the sickle cell disease and it is also genetic. Both parents must pass the sickle cell disease on for major type but if one parent passes it and the other doesn't, the offspring will have a lesser version with both healthy and unhealthy cells called sickle cell trait (NIH, 2015). Although this sounds detrimental, this more “minor” disorder is asymptomatic and can be the salvation for certain people (Rosenthal, 2011). Even though this disease is genetic, there was a person who discovered that it was originally environmental. So how would have this sort of condition come
In this article, sickle cell anemia is defined as a hereditary disease that destroys red blood cells by causing them take on an elongated and rigid "sickle" shape. In addition, a different type of hemoglobin called Hemoglobin S, is the protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body. This protein starts to wrap around other red blood cells when oxygen is lacking to form a helical shape. Once this happens the cells cluster together and elongate and the cells start to "sickle". A person who has sickle cell anemia can only get it if both of their parents carry the sickle cell trait, if only one parent has the trait then there children are at risk for having the trait.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited form of anemia. This means both parents must pass on the defective gene for a child to be affected. The gene is more common in families that come from Saudi Arabia, Africa, Mediterranean countries, India, the Caribbean islands, and North, South, and Central America of African descent.
The sickle-shaped red cells interfere with normal blood flow by plugging up small blood vessels. Sickle-cell anemia occurs when an individual inherits a sickle-cell gene from each parent. Programs have been initiated to detect carriers, who do not themselves show the trait; such carriers are informed that a child resulting from the union of two carriers runs a one in four risk of having sickle-cell disease. Therapy for sickle-cell anemia is largely symptomatic. Preventive administration of penicillin to affected children by the age of four months greatly decreases mortality from infections.
Sickle cell disease is a chronic condition that a person can inherit from their parents in which it effects the globular structure of the patients red blood cells. A more sickle shaped structure, which can alter a person’s blood flow, replaces the more common globular structure. This impairment in blood flow can lead to blood clots, severe debilitating pain and damage to vital organs such as the liver, kidney and spleen. This disease currently affects over 90,000 people in the United States, with the majority of them being African American and
Sickle Cell anemia is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders, or a collection of recessive genetic disorders characterized by a hemoglobin variant called Hb S. Normal red blood cells are round like doughnuts, and they move through small blood tubes in the body to deliver oxygen. Sickle red blood cells become hard, sticky and shaped like sickles used to cut wheat. When these hard and pointed red cells go through the small blood tube, they clog the flow and break apart. This can cause pain, damage and a low blood count, or anemia. There is a substance in the red cell called hemoglobin that carries oxygen inside the cell. One little change in this substance causes the hemoglobin to form long hard rods in the red cell when it gives
Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder. This missense mutation is characterized by mutant beta globin subunits that tend to stick together (Cummings, 2014). As a result, abnormally shaped red blood cells are produced by this disorder. The erythrocytes are sickle or crescent shaped. Sickling occurs under hypoxic conditions, in which there is insufficient supply of oxygen delivered throughout the body (Sun & Xia, 2013). In order to inherit this monogenic disease, one copy of the sickle globin gene from each parent must be passed on to the offspring (Ashley-Koch,
Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is an inherited blood disease which causes normal, round, healthy red blood cells to transform into sickle-shaped cells. Normal red blood cells are flexible and can easily pass through capillaries to bring oxygen to different parts of the body. However, sickle cells are fragile, and can easily die, leading to anemia (red blood cell deficiency). SCA can also cause blood vessel occlusion (blockage of blood vessels), tissue infarctions (death due to lack of oxygen), bone, joint, and abdominal pain, yellow eyes and skin, pale skin, delayed growth, increased risk of infections, and damage to organs. The disease is passed on by autosomal recessive inheritance, which means both parents of a child must have the defective gene for the child to be affected. If only one gene is inherited, the victim becomes a carrier of the sickle cell trait, producing only some sickle cells with little or no symptoms. This means two people with the trait have a 25% chance of having a baby with sickle cell disease, 25% chance of them having no defects, and 50% chance of the baby becoming a carrier as well. When the gene is inherited, it mutates the beta (β) globin gene in chromosome 11, changing the hemoglobins produced using instructions from the gene from a healthy hemoglobin A (Hb A) to a mutated hemoglobin S (Hb S). Many tests can be done to check for sickle cell disease, the most common being an ordinary blood test, where the blood is examined for hemoglobin S. If the
The Sickle Cell gene needs to be inhered from both of the parents; otherwise the individual will only carry the Sickle Cell trait. If the sickle cell trait is carried by an individual they can be asymptomatic. This individual can, however, transfer the gene abnormality to any offspring that they have. Sickle Cell Anemia is the most common form of sickle cell disease. It is also the most severe form of the disease. One variation of sickle cell anemia is hemoglobin SC disease and is one of the more common variations. Many times it manifests with a lesser degree of hemolytic anemia (1).
Sickle Cell Anemia is a very serious disorder and people suffer from it every day. It is a genetic disorder that causes the hemoglobin in the red blood cell to distort and form into a sickle like shape. The name comes from the shape of the blood cell after it is mutated. A person who has sickle cell anemia got it from inheriting from the parents. It is the most common inherited disorder in the United States. It is also has four other names this disorder can go by HbS, Hemoglobin S Disease, SCD, and Sickle Cell .(https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov)the blood cell is formed wrong turning it into a sickle or crescent shape. Sickle cell is only a disorder. It can also be treated a lot of different ways.
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease causing red blood cells to malfunction. It is a disorder the affects hemoglobin the protein found in red blood cells. People with this disease genetically inherit this untypical hemoglobin. This means that it cannot be transmitted from one person to another like the flu virus. These people have what its called hemoglobin (s). What this does is that instead of the red blood cell being circle-shaped it would appear to be a half moon shaped cell. It is necessary for the cells to be round so that they would be able to pass though small and large blood vessels.
Sickle Cell Disease, also referred to as SCD, is a genetically inherited disease that causes abnormal hemoglobin, called hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin, in red blood cells. This disease currently affects about 90,000-100,000 Americans, a majority being African-American. Because SCD is genetically inherited, it is not contagious. It is inherited when both parents of a child carry the sickle cell trait, also called SCT. SCT and SCD are not the same. In SCT, the person is generally healthy and does not endure what one with SCD does, they are simply a “carrier” of the sickle cell trait. SCD cannot be inherited if only one parent is a carrier. If both parents are carriers of the sickle cell trait, the child still only has a 25% chance of being born with sickle cell. They have a 50% chance of being born with a single trait, making them a carrier, and a 25% chance of being born with normal hemoglobin. About 1 in 13 African-American babies are born as a carrier and 1 in 365 are born with the disease.
Sickle cell disease is categorized as an autosomal recessive disease. That means in order for one to inherit the disease, they must inherit two recessive alleles for sickle cell disease, or hemoglobin S gene. Having only one recessive allele makes you a carrier. The disorder causes the affected person’s red blood cells to disfigure into a crescent or sickle, which differs from the normal red blood cells that shaped into a doughnut. Sometimes, cells in a sickle shape cannot get through the narrow passageways of the blood vessels as easily as normal red blood cells. This blocks blood from entering and oxygen can’t reach the affected person’s organs. It can also crystallize and block arteries and
This disease is a genetic disease and it is hereditary. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive disease. This means that in order to get the gene you must receive a recessive trait from your mother and your father. The parents could both be heterozygous for the trait and therefore not have the disease, but instead they would both be a carrier. There are only a few ways that the parents could possibly pass the trait. One possibility of having a child with sickle-cell disease is if both parents are heterozygous and they both pass on their recessive allele, (25% chance for offspring to have sickle-cell disease). Another possibility
Sickle Cell Anemia is a group of disorders that cause red blood cells to become misshapen and break down. Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting 70,000 to 80,000 Americans (Ashley-Koch, Yang and Olney). Sickle Cell Anemia causes your red blood cells to be thin, stiff, and shaped like a sickle. But your red blood cells are supposed to be round and soft. A person that is diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, their blood cells start to become clogged, causing blood clots, which can cause a great amount of health issues including: infections, stroke, and acute chest syndrome. People get sickle cell anemia by inheriting a mutated gene from both of their parents. On the down side, there is not currently an effective cure for sickle cell anemia, there are several different therapeutic approaches to treating and attempting to cure the disease and help people who are affected with sickle cell anemia better manage their symptoms. There have also been several great scientists that dedicated a lot of research to help find a cure for sickle cell anemia.
The term of Sickle cell disease (SCD) describes a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. “Inherited” means that it is passed by genes from parents to their children.