Sickle-Anemia Everybody contains red blood cells. Inside the cells are pigments called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin carries oxygen through the blood into the tissues. Anemia is the most common blood disorder in humans. Sickle-anemia occurs when your body produces sickle hemoglobin, which will cause you to be anemic. The sickle cells become stuck inside of the red blood cells and cause damage to the tissues.
It is impossible to get sickle-cell if it does not run in the family. If only one parent has this and it is passed on to the child, then they only have one gene that is producing the sickle-cell hemoglobin, and they have what is called the sickle-cell trait. Parents who both have sickle-cell anemia have a higher risk of infecting their children. There is 25% chance that the child will be born normal without this disease, and 50% chance that the baby will have half normal cells and half sickle-cells(sickle-cell trait), and 25% chance that their children will only have sickle-cells(sickle-cell anemia).
Micrograph of a piece of karan bagga's, student fr...
based on http://www.understandingrace.org/humvar/s...
English: Description Malaria versus sickle-cell tr...The risk of people getting this disease is 8 in every 100,000 people.
All newborn babies should be tested for sickle-cell anemia. In 30 of the 50 states it is required by law for newborns to be tested. The testing requires a blood sample taken from the babie's heel. There is no cure at this time for the disease. If a child has this disease they must live a very protective life. Parents need to protect them from any infections at all, because it could very well lead to death. Though, they do not have a cure, they do have many treatments to help babies and children grow up to live long productive lives. Treatments include folic acid supplementation, vaccinations, blood transfusions and therapy.
To protect babies from getting this awful disease, mothers...