Thalassemia Essay

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Thalassemia is a blood disorder transferred through families. It occurs when the body makes less hemoglobin than needed or an unusual form of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carry oxygen. The disorder makes an excessive amount of destruction of red blood cells. This eventually leads to anemia.
There are two main types of thalassemia. The first one is Alpha thalassemia. This occurs when a gene or genes related to the alpha globin protein are missing or mutated. It happens mostly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, China, and in those of African descent. If one gene is missing or damaged: Your red blood cells might be smaller than normal. You will have no symptoms and you will not need treatment. If two genes are missing or damaged, you will have very mild anemia that will typically not need treatment. This is called alpha thalassemia minor or alpha thalassemia trait. If three genes are missing: You will have mild to moderately severe anemia. This is called hemoglobin H disease. If it is severe, you may need blood transfusions.
The second one is beta thalassemia. This occurs when similar gene defects affect production of the beta globin protein. It happens mostly in people of Mediterranean origin, Chinese, other Asians, and African Americans. You need both alpha- and beta-globin to make hemoglobin. If you have one damaged gene, you may have mild anemia and probably won't need treatment. This is called beta thalassemia minor or beta thalassemia trait. It happens when you get a normal gene from one parent and a thalassemia gene from the other. When both genes are damaged, it means you got a thalassemia gene from each parent. You may have moderate or severe anemia. If you have moderate anemia, you may n...

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...ver problems. It may also make the person more likely to get infections. Blood transfusions may help control some symptoms. But this could lead to having too much iron, as it stated before. Too much iron could damage the heart, liver, and endocrine system.
Another way to treat major thalassemia is to have a stem cell transplant. Also called a bone marrow transplant, a stem cell transplant may be used to treat severe thalassemia in select cases. Prior to a stem cell transplant, you receive very high doses of drugs or radiation to destroy your diseased bone marrow. Then you receive infusions of stem cells from a compatible donor. This has serious risks though. For that reason it is only used if it is a very severe case of thalassemia or if there is a very compatible donor.
Thalassemia cannot be prevented most of the time since it is passed down through families.

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