Sickle cell Anemia

[daydream]

I remember hearing about this blood condition while studying in school decades ago. But here in this South East Asian country, I have not come across anyone with this genetic predisposition. I thought it would good to know about this anemia related disease since more and more Africans are coming to this country for study or work. I even had the privilege of studying with a Liberian lady a few years ago. 

 

 

https://www.ibogirlliving.com/2018/07/symptoms-of-sickle-cell-anemia.html

 

[vern]

Genetic?  Its only children it would pass to.?

[Qapla]

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited red blood cell disorder in which there aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout your body

 

You inherit 1 set from your mother and 1 set from your father. To be born with sickle cell disease, a child has to inherit a copy of the sickle cell gene from both their parents. This usually happens when both parents are "carriers" of the sickle cell gene, also known as having the sickle cell trait

 

Sickle cell disease can affect people of ANY race or ethnicity. Sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder of the red blood cells, is more common in African Americans in the U.S. compared to other ethnicities—occurring in approximately 1 in 365 African Americans

 

We had a Brother in our Congregation a few years back who died from complications of this devastating disease. He was told as a child he would never live to get out of his teens - he was 40 when he died.

 

 

[daydream]

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/documents/factsheet_scicklecell_status.pdf

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by happiness IS

[daydream]

On 10/9/2021 at 9:15 PM, Qapla said:

We had a Brother in our Congregation a few years back

https://jwtalk.net/topic/7588-fighting-everyday-every-min/?do=findComment&comment=124789

 

Quote

{quote removed for privacy reasons because we're moving this topic out of Comfort & Support - Bob}

Edited October 14, 2021 by Dismal_Bliss
Removed quote from a private post

[Sequoia]

Here's an Awake article on the subject that I remember reading.  Sickle-Cell Anemia—Knowledge Is the Best Defense — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY (jw.org)

 

One thing that happens is the red cells instead of staying round take the shape of a banana or a sickle.

 

[daydream]

*** g96 10/8 p. 25 Sickle-Cell Anemia—Knowledge Is the Best Defense ***

Spoiler

A blood genotype is different from a blood group; a genotype has to do with the genes. Most people have a blood genotype called AA. Those who inherit an A gene from one parent and an S gene from the other parent have an AS blood genotype. People with AS blood do not have sickle-cell anemia, but they can pass the disorder on to their offspring. People who inherit an S gene from one parent and another S gene from the other parent have an SS blood genotype, the genotype of sickle-cell anemia.

Thus, for a child to inherit SS-type blood, he or she must inherit the defective S gene from each parent.

 

People of African descent are wise to find out what their blood genotype is long before they consider marriage. This can be done by a blood test. People who have AA blood can be assured that none of their children will develop sickle-cell anemia, no matter whom they marry. Those who have AS blood should understand that if they marry a person who also has AS blood, they run a high risk of producing a child that will have sickle-cell anemia.

 

While many doctors strongly discourage AS from marrying AS, the counselors at the sickle-cell center let people make their own decision. Dr. Omoike (director of the Center for Sickle-Cell Anemia, Nigeria) says: “Our job is not to frighten people or to tell them who they should or should not marry. No one can predict for sure that children born to an AS couple will have SS blood, since that is a matter of chance. Even if they do have an SS child, that child may tolerate the disorder without too many problems.

https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=101996728&srctype=wol&srcid=share&par=34

 

 

[daydream]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/health/sickle-cell-sisters.html

 

I’m Haunted by Sisters With Sickle Cell: Two Thrived. Two Suffered.

 

 

The cruelty of their unequal outcomes — with one pair freed of disabling symptoms and the other’s suffering unabated — stayed with me.

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/health/sickle-cell-cure.html?action

A Chance for a Cure

 

Like every sickle cell patient, Helen had a mutation in a gene that turned her red blood cells into rigid crescents instead of soft disks. Those misshapen cells got trapped in her blood vessels, injuring them, causing searing pain, and leading to lasting damage to tissues and organs.

Sickled cells blocked her spleen, which had to be removed. She had three life-threatening blockages of blood to the lungs. And her hip bones were permanently damaged by the disease.

[daydream]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/health/sickle-cell-genetic-testing.html?

 

There is no routine testing of adults for the trait. Medical science is fast approaching a cure for the disease — one that would almost certainly cost more than $1 million per person — but the fractured American medical system does not ensure that parents-to-be get a simple, inexpensive blood test that would inform them if they carry the sickle cell trait.

 

“In my view, sickle cell represents the worst and best of health care,” said Dr. Elliott Vichinsky, a sickle cell expert at the University of California, San Francisco. “We have developed new therapies and molecular testing, but people don’t get them.”

 

The Global Epicenter: In Nigeria, where 150,000 babies are born each year with sickle cell disease, the effects of the condition are pervasive and devastating.