ID # : 13792
Sickle Cell Anemia
Sickle cell disease was first discovered in 1910 by Dr. B. Herrick, who wrote a report about a man who had blood flow problems. The now common disease sickle cell anemia can only be inherited, and has many symptoms due to the blockage of blood vessels which can make it dangerous not having a cure. Thankfully, without a cure, we are able to lengthen the lives of the individuals suffering from sickle cell disease with treatment.
According to the National Institute of Health, the most common form of the sickle cell disease is sickle cell anemia. This is a disorder which turns your typical disc shaped red blood cell into a sickle or crescent shape. The red blood cell has a soft disc shape so that it is able to move and squeeze through your blood vessels more efficiently. Also, the red blood cell contains a protein rich in iron called hemoglobin A, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Hemoglobin S is the abnormal hemoglobin found in sickle cells and is what makes the sickle cell take its crescent shape. Normal hemoglobin looks like little dots, where hemoglobin S forms stiff strands which makes it into its shape. The sickle or crescent shape is harmful because it will get lodged in the blood vessels and block blood flow. Blocked blood flow results in pain and serious organ damage. Anemia is a condition where a person would have a lower amount of red blood cells than normal. Red blood cells are made in the spongy bone marrow inside the larger bones in the body. Also, red blood cells are being made every day and are able to live around 120 days in your bloodstream carrying oxygen and removing carbon dioxide before dying. A sickle cell onl...
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...ailable is a blood transfusion. Blood transfusions are used to prevent people with worsening cases from having fatal symptoms. The side effects to blood transfusions are: allergic reactions, and increased risk of hepatitis and HIV. Research for stem cell transplants and medicine is continuing in hope for further treatment. Researchers are also looking for a way to determine the severity of this disease. Unfortunately, since this disease is inherited, many infants born with it die at an extremely early age because there bodies are not yet developed and strong enough to fight off infections. Luckily some cases don 't worsen until the person is older and strong enough to survive the fatal symptoms. The life expectancy of an average american with sickle cell anemia has been improving and is in the mid 40s (National Institute of Health) (Johns Hopkins Medicine).
Under hypoxic conditions, the abnormal hemoglobin start to change shape. They become sickled, stiff, and have greater difficulty moving though the blood vessels. As a result they begin to stick together and eventually block the tissues from receiving nutrients and oxygen. This causes the tissue to become infarcted and leads to pain. In a hypoxic states the cells are forced to make energy also known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) without oxygen. This is called anaerobic glycolysis and results in the production of lactic acid as a byproduct (citation). The presence of lactic acid lowers the pH of the environment, the cells must recycle lactic acid back into the cells, and ATP production is significantly slowed. The cells
1. Sickle Cell Disease is life-threatening and has a risk of of causing depression. In this study I examine the experiences that Sickle Cell patients go through specifically at emergency healthcare facilities to find out if there are any negative stigmatizations surrounding this disease. There may be judgments that are made about these patients from healthcare professionals when they seek drugs for their pain relief that may cause the stigmatization to occur. I will also investigate why individuals that have Sickle Cell Disease experience longer waiting times at emergency healthcare facilities and the lack of control they may have over their care regime.
What is Sickle cell disease? Sickle cell affects a disease; that disease is called which affects the hemoglobin when the red blood cells that send oxygen through the body are killed off and weakened. Sickle cells can be found in every 1 and 1000 African Americans, it is affecting about 70,000 to 80,000 Americans in the United States. Sickle cell is a death threatening disease, and the severity of symptoms can vary from person to person (Sickle cell disease (SCD), 2015). Some people have light conditions, but others can have severe conditions, which, mean they could be hospitalized. Characteristics of this disease are caused by a minimum of low blood cells, which is called anemia.
The name of this patient is Davon; he is a five-year-old African-American male whom just moved from Chicago. The patient was visiting his pediatrician for a physical to enter kindergarten. The patient mother gave her history about confirming that she has the sickle cell trait and would like to know if her son is also a carrier for sickle cell. ("Sickle Cell Disease", 2015) “Sickle cell trait inherited from both hemoglobin A and S, in the red blood cells”. Those with this disease are still capable of having a healthy life. For instance, if one parent has sickle cell trait, and the other parent does not will only lead to the child having sickle cell trait or nothing. If both parents have the trait, then the child will genetically develop sickle cell disease inside the mother’s womb. Sickle cell trait is a transmitted disease that travels through the red blood cells. The symptoms of sickle cell trait is that when the skin gets pale, always cold, or even tired then that is a sign of having this disease. The patient cannot prevent this disease, due to this is something that is passed on from the womb and birth. Daily doses of penicillin can control the infection; on the other hand, it is not preventable. The only way to make sure that it does not get worse is the person must eat foods with high iron and even
Having an inherited disease like sickle cell anemia takes a life-long of treatments and preventions of complications that comes with being diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. Many people have lived a long time while dealing with the disease because of the on-going care being provided to keep patients as healthy as possible. Knowing that both male and female have the sickle cell trait can prevent having a child with the sickle cell disease. From the help of the parents, doctors and medicine, sickle cell patients don’t have to deal with the pressure of living with a life threatening disease.
Moreover, Mr. Johnson’s younger brother died in adolescence from the disease, after many painful and debilitating attacks. He thus knew it was a possibility that he himself was a carrier. Mr. Johnson also knew that the trait is fairly common among African Americans, about one in twelve is a carrier, so there was a good chance his fiancée was a carrier too. Ms. Sanford knows of no sickle cell disease in her immediate family, but she is in a racial group with a relatively high rate of
Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disorder that makes your body produce red blood cells that are abnormal in shape. This disease is also widely known as hemoglobin SS disease. Unlike normal red blood cells, sickle cells are rigid and tenacious. Due to their shape and rigidness, they can block blood flow. In turn, this could cause organ damage to the body. Sickle cells are also fragile and die very easily due to the fact sickle cells have a lifespan of twenty days instead of the normal one hundred and twenty days for normal red blood cells.This causes the body to have a lower blood cell count, hence the name anemia in sickle cell anemia.
People with sickle cell anemia can also experience complications from blood circulation and infection-fighting problems. These include a higher risk of certain infections and stroke as well as a condition called acute c...
“In the United States, it's estimated that sickle cell anemia affects 70,000–100,000 people, mainly African Americans” (NHLBI, NIH, Who is at risk for sickle cell anemia). SCD is a disease that is a serious disorder in which the body can make normal blood cells and sickle shape cells. Sickle shape cells can block the blood flow in your vessels and cause pain or organ damage also put you in risk for infections. SCD has no cure available but there are many treatments out there to deal with the complications of it. From over years treatments did get better from way back in the day doctors have learned. Sickle cell disease has lack of attention and funding because it’s only affecting African American the most.
The problem is that when a red blood cell with hemoglobin S releases oxygen, the cell changes from the usual doughnut shape to a sickle or S shape, and becomes stiff rather than soft and flexible like normal red blood cells. This "sickled cell," which resembles a crescent moon, can't continue to glide through the small blood vessels as usual. Instead, it gets stuck in the tiny blood vessels, blocking the flow of blood and causing pain.
Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited blood disorder that is extremely challenging to live with. Its symptoms are many, with the most prominent being severe pain that can become unbearable to the point where hospitalization is required. Because sickle cell is a genetic disorder, a person is born with it and it is usually permanent. Unfortunately, there are risks and complications associated with this disease. However there are various treatment options for a patient with sickle cell and also support to help people understand and cope with this challenging disease.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease where the red blood cells in the body are produced abnormally by bone marrow as crescent shaped red blood cells. Unlike normal red blood cells, sickle shaped cells are unable to deliver much oxygen to other parts of the body due to the abnormal hemoglobin. Sickle cell’s are stiff and sticky and tend to clump together between blood vessels that can cause pain, damage to the organs, and infections. If a child inherits this disease they can be healthy throughout their life or need special care. “In the United States, SCD is most common among blacks and Hispanics. SCD affects about 1 in 500 black births and about 1 in 36,000 Hispanic births in this country. SCD is also common among people with family from Africa, the Caribbean, Greece, India, Italy, Malta, Sardinia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey or South or Central America (March of Dimes)”.
The idea that there is a relationship between sickle-cell anemia and malaria was introduced by J. B. S. Haldane. Haldane was a british scientist who spent his life as geneticist, professor, biochemist, and writer. He was born November fifth, 1892 in Oxford, England. His father, John Scott Haldane, was a successful physiologist who did research on human respiration that affected the science world immensely. As a child, Haldane assisted his father in his research and experiments. He began this at the age of eight. Since he started so early, his knowledge was much more advanced than the average person by the time he finished his education. He completed his college education at more than one
Sickle Cell is a disease that affects many people in the world today. It is the number one genetic disorder in the United States. Sickle Cell is deficient hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is what functions in providing oxygen to the cells in the body. The sickle shape comes from the atypical hemoglobin s molecules. Hemoglobin molecules are composed of two different parts called the alpha and beta. The beta subunit of the hemoglobin molecule has a mutation in gene, on chromosome 11 which produces the change in the red blood cell shape causing them to die and not reproduce accurately. The change in shape causes the red blood cells to get stuck in the blood vessels and block the effectiveness of oxygen transport causing pain and organ damage to the body. This disease does not have a cure and some common treatments are used to help patients live with the disease. Some treatment options are antibiotics (penicillin) to prevent infections, blood transfusions, folic acid that help produces new blood cells. These are just some of the current treatments for Sickle Cell.
B1.1 Where do you think you’ll find that the most villagers are dying from sickle-cell anemia? Explain.