Sickle cell anemia hurts many people today in fact it hurts about 72,000 Americans. But some doctors are finding cures for this inherited disease. This disease causes mainly strokes and fever. With this disease a stroke is not predictable, a stroke can happen as early as a one month old as a baby. It can hurt a person really bad because it causes them to not be able to do many things like can 't play sports, and things that gets your heart pumping because if the red blood cells gets clogged up it can causes a stroke because oxygen can 't flow. Most Americans who have sickle cell anemia are of African descent. The disease also affects Americans from the Caribbean, Central America, and parts of South America, Turkey, Greece, Italy, the Middle East and East India. Since sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease if both parents have the trait for sickle cell, their baby 's chances of having sickle cell disease is one in four.
Many doctors are trying to find cures for this disease by trying the solution on patients. Doctors at Emory University and University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Chicago. Doctors in Emory University in Atlanta credited an experimental stem cell transplant that for the first time is not from a related donor. This transplant cured the inherited disease from Keone Penn who is 13 years old from Georgia. He suffered a stroke at 5 years old and had a fever of 106 degrees, "I almost died" (Ferraro, Newspaper Article) What the doctors did was replaced the boy 's bone marrow with stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of an infant not related to him. Dr. Ruby Bellevue of New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn has patient that he wants to do the transplant procedure on, but he is waiting for more studies to come out to see what the long-term effects are. Some effects could be rejection, complications, and/or death. For many years, doctors could only treat the sickle cell disease with blood transfusions and antibiotics. But until now, the only hope for a cure has been through bone marrow transplants, dangerous and rarely performed because they require a match between donor and the person receiving it. The good thing about stem cell transplants is does not require as precise a match. For Keone the 13 years old kid was worth it. "I am happy. This has been my wish my whole life, to not have sickle cell." (Ferraro, Newspaper Article) The doctors of University of Mississippi Medical Center use Doppler ultrasound to examine head and neck blood flow. The ultrasound measures the speed of the blood in the vessels. Early detection can help and decrease the risk of stroke.
The program involved in this problem is the National Institutes of Health declared September as Sickle Cell Awareness Month. The educational and research organization have promoted awareness of sickle cell disease, a group of inherited disorders characterized by anemia which means a reduced number of red blood cell and the production of sickle hemoglobin is a molecule found in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body.
My suggestion for dealing with this problem is to go to the doctor to get an examination if you play any sports or go for a jog or run and experiment any difficulty breathing. If you don 't have trouble breathing, maybe if you feel dizzy or feel like you about to blackout when you do something I recommend going to the doctors for an examination. It is better to find out the problem first before you will experiment a stroke a high fever that can cause a death. I think early detection help a lot and could save your life. You could find out your parents medical background or file since sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease.
This problem which sickle cell anemia is important because it affects 72,000 Americans and one of every 500 African-American is born with the disease and one in every 1,000 to 1,400 Hispanics. People can die from this disease, and many kids died at a young age. I think in the future doctors will find a cure with no side effects or long-term effects. Right now the have a temporary cure for this disease. I really hope they will find a cure for this disease that really works.
Bibliography
Brown, David
"Sickle Cell Anemia", Washington Post,
1993
Ferraro, Susan
"Sickle Cell Miracle", Daily News,
1999
Oyo, Remi
"Encouraging Signs in Research on Sickle Cell", Inter Press Service, July 25,1997
Starr, Cindy
"Sickle Cell Anemia", The Cincinnati Post,
1998
Ultrasound Identifies Stroke Risk In Sickle Cell Patients, December 24,1999
Bibliography: "Sickle Cell Miracle", Daily News, 1999
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
1. Sickle cell disease is a group of disorders that affects hemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells throughout the body. People with this disorder have atypical hemoglobin molecules called hemoglobin S, which can distort red blood cells into a sickle, or crescent, shape.…
- 819 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
My client, known as 20SE03, is a four year old preschooler that lives in a two-parent household along with his younger one year old sister. His family has recently moved to North Carolina where he was recently presented with new onset of seizures and status post cerebral vascular accident (CVA). He has a history of sickle cell disease, ulcerative colitis, acute chest syndrome, and asthma.…
- 1076 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Sickle cell anemia affects people with African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian ancestry (Scientific American). Sickle cell anemia occurs when a person inherits two sickle cell gene, one from each parent, that cause the red blood cells to change and become crescent shaped. The underlying problem involves hemoglobin, a component of the red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lung. In sickle cell anemia, the hemoglobin is flawed (The New York Times). As a result, the cells become sickle shaped and can’t travel as easily through blood vessels. Sickle cell anemia is an illness, which has one primary cause, but a variety of symptoms and treatments (Scientific American.) Like some illnesses, sickle cell anemia has one primary cause. In order for sickle cell anemia to occur is when a sickle cell gene have, been inherited from both the mother and the father, so that the child has two sickle cell gene. The sickle cell gene causes the body to make abnormal hemoglobin. As mentioned above, hemoglobin is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. A person with normal red blood cell will have hemoglobin A; however, a person with sickle cell disease will have hemoglobin S…
- 921 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Sickle cell anemia is the most common form of sickle cell disease which is an inherited, autosomal recessive disorder that causes an abnormal hemoglobin cell. The person with this specific disorder inherited hemoglobin S from both parents, also known as homozygous (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, & Bucher, 2014, pp. 644-647). This hemoglobin S results from the substitution of valine for glutamic acid on the B-globin chain of hemoglobin, and this ultimately causes the erythrocyte to stiffen and elongate taking a sickle shape in response to low oxygen levels (Lewis et al., 2014, pp. 644-647). Due to the sickle cells elongated shape, and its stiff and sticky consistency it tends to get stuck in capillaries and vessels, and blocks blood flow to limbs and organs (Lewis et al., 2014, pp. 644-647). The major problems with sickle cell anemia is due to their sickled shape, reduced life expectancy and their ability to carry enough hemoglobin or transport it properly to…
- 610 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited condition. People with sickle cell anemia inherit two copies of the sickle cell gene, one from each parent. The sickle cell gene makes abnormal hemoglobin called Hemoglobin-S.…
- 530 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder in which red blood cells are abnormally shaped. This abnormality can result in painful episodes, serious infections, chronic anaemia, and damage to body organs.…
- 1612 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Sickle-cell disease is a genetic disorder that results from the abnormal structure of red blood cells. The peculiar shape of the red blood cell prevents the normal absorption of oxygen. This disease results from the abnormal production of hemoglobin S (HbS). Therefore, a mutation in this gene causes a lower supply of oxygen to the cells, which results in occlusion of the blood vessels. Individuals diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia have abnormal function of the gene that encodes for subunit B, which is a protein that serves as part of the hemoglobin A (HbA). The HbA is responsible for oxygen binding through the blood stream. Indeed, the abnormal polymerization of hemoglobin occurs in homozygous individuals with sickle-cell anemia, which lowers the oxygen supply of red blood cells. To lower the negative consequences of sickle-cell anemia, it is necessary to provide a better understanding of the genetic material that underlies the sub-phenotype of sickle-cell anemia. Therefore, this could help in the discovery of drugs that could target the genes responsible for sickle-cell anemia.…
- 1625 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
Sickle cell anemia or also known as sickle cell disease is a hereditary genetic disease defined by the presence of odd shaped crescent-shaped red blood cells instead of the regular round disc like shape cells. Red blood cells transport oxygen from the lungs to various other organs and tissues with the help of a protein called hemoglobin. The main cause of sickle cell disease is when hemoglobin mutates into an abnormal type called hemoglobin S. The presence of Hemoglobin S causes red blood cells to be sickle-shaped and rigid, making it more difficult for them to flow through blood vessels in the body to deliver oxygen. Therefore, the sickled cells latch onto the walls of various blood vessels throughout the body, resulting in blocked blood flow that can lead to organ damage, pain and infections…
- 1567 Words
- 5 Pages
Powerful Essays -
the supply of oxygen gets cut off. A normal blood cell lives up to 120…
- 568 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Sickle Cell Anemia, also known as Sickle Cell Disease, is a disease that causes the production of abnormal hemoglobin. The red blood cells (RBCs) carry oxygen to organs and tissues. Hemoglobin, a molecule in the RBCs, is a protein that attaches to the oxygen in the lungs and carries it to all parts of the body. Hemoglobin takes on the oxygen, and releases carbon dioxide, a process known as oxygenation. In the tissues, deoxygenation occurs where the processes is reversed, when hemoglobin releases oxygen and takes on carbon dioxide. When the RBCs are healthy, they can easily move through the tiniest blood vessels throughout the body because of their flexibility. The hemoglobin S is fragile and abnormal in Sickle Cell Anemia, and the RBCs are pointy with a shape like the alphabet letter "C" or the crescent moon. This makes the RBCs difficult to move pass through the blood vessels. The RBCs become hard, and can get stuck in blood vessels, and often clog the spleen. This causes pain, infection, and poor blood flow in patients that have Sickle Cell Anemia. The RBCs also block blood flow to organs, such as the heart, lungs, brain, etc., which can lead to stroke, damage to organs, especially the spleen, acute chest syndrome, disability, and sometimes, even death.…
- 1657 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder most common in African Americans, which results from a mutation affecting the amino acid sequence of the beta chains of hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells. The abnormal hemoglobin which causes the red blood cells to sickle is called hemoglobin S. Sickling occurs when the red blood cells are deoxygenated causing the cell to have a hard curved crescent shape. Due to their shape the sickle cells can become trapped in blood vessel walls causing a circulatory blockage and could cause tissues to become oxygen deprived, pain, infection, and organ damage. Red blood cells in sickle cell disease also have a life span of 10 to 20 days compared to normal red blood cells of 120 days; because of this shortened life span chronic hemolytic anemia occurs (Thompson, 2012). All together sickle cells disease causes a dramatic decrease in the quality of life that can lead to early death, the absolute need for medical intervention, and transplantations.…
- 1001 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
INTRODUCTION: “Pain” sudden or chronic, lasting from a few hours to a few days; from a few weeks to a few months evolving from an adhesive substance in red blood cells. The “Pain” is inherited by an retriction blood flow through the body do to an abnormality in the cells. “Sickle Cell Anemia” a chronic illness discovered in 1910 by an American physician named James Bryan Herrick. Sickle Cell is more that just pain; it is a disease that is affected by abnormal blood cells that has an adhesive formation causing the natural flow to be compromised. As a result, these abnormal cells become fixed in the blood stream and not flowing to major body organs causing extreme pain and even a stroke. Why is this process painful? Have sickle cell patient become tolerant to pain or is it because some of them handle self-care management? For many years there has been a link between Sickle Cell Anemia and Pain caused by the stickiness of the blood cells. When this occurs, it decreases normal blood flow to the major organs causing strokes.(citation ). Sickle cell anemia is most common in people whose families come from Africa, South or Central America (especially Panama), Caribbean islands, Mediterranean countries (such as Turkey, Greece, and Italy), India, and Saudi Arabia. In the United States, it's estimated that sickle cell anemia affects 70,000–100,000 people, mainly African Americans. 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 (Citation).More than 2 million Americans have sickle cell trait. The condition occurs in about 1 in 12 African Americans. In people with sickle cell disease, approximately 50% do not survive beyond age 20 years, and most people do not live past 50 years of age (Citation)…
- 860 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
There is NO cure for sickle cell disease, although new stem cell research is promising. Bone marrow transplant is a potential cure, however finding a matched sibling donor is difficult. Therefore treatment is primarily focused on management of symptoms and prevention of pain episodes.…
- 1048 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
There have been many researches and tests done on the genetic causes of Sickle Cell Anemia and how it developes, as well as it's effects on the circulatory, muscular, and respiratory systems, as well as it's effects on the joints and other systems of the body, and the complications associated with them. Most of the research has been done to explore on the reasons why it mostly effects the African-American community and people who are from the West Coast of Africa. It has also been known that Sickle Cell Anemia also effects people from the Mediterranean countries (Wethers, 2000)…
- 2034 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Therefore, provision of optimal care plans and effective treatments for patients with sickle cell anemia must cumulate more research and funding. A large issue with the type of aid offered to sickle cell patients comes from the lack of treatment and medicines that are made available to patients. Painful attacks sickle crisis are things patients with SCD are subject to regularly. Crisis tend to render sickle cell patients immobile for large periods of time with intense sharp pains to the joints muscles and head. A sickle cell crisis occurs because of the accumulation of red blood cells in the blood stream causing a blockage. This block causes restricted flow of blood towards the rest of the body. Studies have shown that because the available treatment for sickle cell is limited and the availability of treatment medications are scarce, the population of people suffering from SCD are left medically neglected, prompting the need for more research and fund allocation towards sickle cell research even more evident. In a study performed by “the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute over the effectiveness of Hydroxyurea in treating SCD, showed that there was a noticeable decrease in their attacks, and a 40% reduction in mortality” (Halsey…
- 547 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays