Akatamanso Health Team Weekly Health Discussion *The NDC Cares *Sickle Cell Disease

*Sickle Cell Disease *

*Overview

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders.
Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen.
Healthy red blood cells are round, and they move through small blood vessels to carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

In someone who has SCD, the hemoglobin is abnormal, which causes the red blood cells to become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle.” The sickle cells die early, which causes a constant shortage of red blood

*Symptoms *

. SCD is a genetic condition that is present at birth.
It is inherited when a child receives two genes—one from each parent—that code for abnormal.

*Type of Sickle Cell Disease *

• There are several types of SCD. The specific type of SCD a person has depends on the genes they inherited from their parents. People with SCD inherit genes that contain instructions, or code, for abnormal hemoglobin.

For simplicity, we shall be using sickler and non-sickler to denote the 100% gene carriers (SS) and the 50% (AS) or 0% (AA) gene carriers, respectively.

* What it means to couples*

the result of two sicklers getting married despite knowing that they will automatically give birth to a sickler baby. There is no going around that; it is a 100 % chance (SS x SS = SS).

They are good to go; that is, they can marry any other type AA or AS, or SS and will still give birth to all healthy babies who can either be carriers (AS) or normal (AA).

Here comes the trickier ones, the couple that is either AS marrying AS or AS marrying SS. The first couple has a 25% chance of giving birth to a healthy non-carrier (AA), a 50% chance of giving birth to the good carrier (AS), and a 25% chance of giving birth to a sickler (SS). The second couple has a 50 out of 50 chance of giving birth to either a healthy carrier (AS) or a sickler (SS). The word chance here means that each time a woman is pregnant, she runs the possibility of giving birth to any baby described above.

. Few types of Sickle Cell Disease include

HbSS
People who have this form of SCD inherit two genes, one from each parent, that code for hemoglobin “S.” Hemoglobin S is an abnormal form of hemoglobin that causes the red cells to become rigid, and sickle shaped. This is commonly called sickle cell anemia and is usually the most severe form of the disease

HbSC
People who have this form of SCD inherit a hemoglobin “S” gene from one parent and a gene for a different type of abnormal hemoglobin called “C” from the other parent. This is usually a milder form of Sickle Cell Disease( SCD).

*Risk Factors *

• People with SCD may start to have signs of the disease during the first year of life, usually around 5 months of age. Symptoms and complications of SCD are different for each person and can range from mild to severe

*Management of Sickle Cell Disease *
•
* 🍁Intravenous fluids (giving fluids directly into a person’s vein
* 🍁Pain-reducing medicine
🍁Hospitalization for severe pain crises
.🍁The only therapy approved by the FDA that may be able to cure SCD is a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.🧘🏾‍♂️

Finally, visit your doctor 👨‍⚕️ for regular checkups

*Health is Wealth *
©️Akatamanso Health Team 🇦🇪⚕️🩺🇦🇪

By Benjamin T. Amuzu