Sickle Cell Disease
Nobody wants to suffer a life-long disorder.
But with sickle cell disease, you don’t have much of a choice. Sickle cell disease is a blood abnormality characterized by sickle-shaped red blood cells. Most of the time this results to the red blood cells blocking the flow of blood to the other organs and capillaries, leading to extremely painful bouts of vaso-occlusive crisis. Nobody wants to suffer from sickle cell disease.
Where does sickle cell disease begin?
Sickle cell disease begins in the blood. Sickling takes place because of a mutation somewhere in the hemogoblin gene. The disease shortens life expectancy. Studies show an average life expectancy of 42 - 48 years for females and males respectively.
Sickle cell disease, studies show, is more common in tropical and sub-tropical regions, in certain locations, where malaria is or was a problem. Fact is one-third of all indigenous natives of Sub-Saharan Africa carry the abnormal gene. According to the National Institute of Health, in the United States, 1 out of 5,000 Americans carry the disease. Most of them are African Americans.
Temporary treatments for sickle cell disease are available. These include cyanate, folic acid and penicillin, hydroxyurea, and bone marrow transplant. The last one has proved to be effective in children.