Genetic Disorders Project
Sickle cell anemia
Genetic transmission
Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the U.S. approximately 80,000 Americans have the disease.
Symptoms/diagnosis/frequency
This can cause severe pain and permanent damage to the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, bones, and spleen severe pain.
People who have sickle cell disease are born with two sickle cell genes, one from each parent. If one normal hemoglobin gene and one sickle cell gene are inherited, a person will have sickle cell trait.
The disease occurs in about 1 out of every 500 African American births. Sickle cell anemia also affects Hispanic Americans. The disease occurs in more than 1 out of every 36,000 Hispanic American births.
Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the U.S.
Life expectancy & treatments
As recently as 1973, the average lifespan for people with sickle cell disease was only 14 years. Currently, life expectancy for these patients can reach 50 years and over.
Resourcesđź’•
- Source: Sickle cell disease | University of Maryland Medical Center http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/sickle-cell-disease#ixzz2q8akrV00
- Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle-cell_disease
- http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca/atrisk.html
- http://www.livescience.com/6805-sickle-cell-disease.html