Sickle Cell disease
Steffanie Foster
Symptoms
- Shortness of breath
- fatigue
- Delayed development in children
- yellowing of the eyes or skin
- painful episodes
What causes this disorder?
Sickle cell disease is caused when red blood cells sickle together and then break down for ever. The red blood cells begin to look like crecents and have wholes in them. When this happens the blood cells can block the blood flow in the blood vessles and the limbs. This makes it hard to give oxygen to the body and can lead to anemia( the most common form of the Sickle Cell disease). Also this is a mutation, it is a mutation in the mutation in the HBB gene.
How is sickle Cell inherited?
Sickle cell disease is a reccesive trait so the trait has to be passed down by both parents for the child to receive it. This disease is not sex linked but it is located on a specific chromosome. It's located on chromosome 11.
How common is it?
Sickle cell disease is one of the most common in people who have ancestors that came from Africa, Greece, Turkey, and Italy. This is also the most common disease that is inherited through blood in the U.S. Sickle cell disease affects "70,000-80,000 people in America and it occurs in ever 1 in 500 African Americans and 1 in 1,000-1,400 Hispanic Americans"
How is it diagnosed?
Sickle cell disease can be diagnosed just by a blood test and now it can be diagnosed before birth. The test just looks for the sickle hemoglobin gene and the test can be done in nfants as early as 10 weeks.
How is it treated?
Sickle cell disease can now be treated in children just by antibiotics and some vaccines. Other treatments include pain medications, lots of fluids, and blood transfusions.
What did i learn?
By doing this project I learned what Sickle cell disease even was and actually how common it is in America. I also learned that it is becoming less common in infants because of the new testing that they do to detect if someone has sickle cell before they are even born