Sickle Cell Anemia Research Paper

Sickle Cell Anemia

A Hereditary Disease

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited blood disorder that affects the hemoglobin responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). This means that, unlike normal hemoglobin in which cells are smooth and round like the letter "O," that can pass through the vessels in our bodies with ease, sickle hemoglobin cells are rigid and form into the shape of a sickle, or the letter "C." The cells are also sticky and hence, cannot travel through small blood vessels. Consequently, they tend to cluster together and cause a blockage in the blood vessels and stop the movement of healthy oxygen-carrying blood.

Symptoms: The symptoms and signs of sickle cell disease

According to Hassel (2010), approximately 100,000 Americans have the disease. What then are the factors the increases one’s chances of inheriting such a disease? Simply put, what are the risk factors? The risk of inheriting sickle cell disease comes down to two factors: genetics and ethnic background. For a baby to be born with sickle cell, both parents must carry a sickle cell gene. For instance, if one parent has sickle cell disease (two sickle cell genes) and the other parent has sickle cell trait (one normal gene, one sickle cell gene), the child has a 50% chance of inheriting sickle cell trait and a 50% chance of inheriting sickle cell disease. If one parent has sickle cell disease and the other parent has two normal hemoglobin genes, the child has a 100% chance of inheriting sickle cell trait, but not the disease. If both parents have sickle cell disease, the child has a 100% chance of inheriting the disease. In essence, sickle cell disease is inherited and people at risk for inheriting the gene for sickle cell descend from people who are or were originally from Africa, parts of India and the Mediterranean. The sickle cell gene also occurs in people from South and Central America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. In the United States, most people with sickle cell disease are of African ancestry or identify themselves as black. To buttress this point, Bennett (2006) argues that about 1 in 13 African American babies is born with sickle cell trait and about 1 in every 365 black children is born with sickle cell disease. There are also many people with this disease who come from Hispanic, southern European, Middle Eastern, or Asian backgrounds. There are no standard treatments that cure sickle cell disease especially when the risk factors are related to genetics and ethnic background because they are non-modifiable (permanent and cannot be