Sickle Cell Anemia “He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured”, an Ethiopian proverb quote. All around the world many disease are caused; it’s by human nature that it befalls people. There is a certain disease that particularly called my attention which is sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia is the most common form of sickle cell disease; it’s a blood disorder that affects hemoglobin, the protein found in the red blood cell that helps carry oxygen throughout the body. Normally, red blood cells are round and flexible so they can travel freely through the narrow blood vessels. In sickle cell anemia the red blood cells are crescent shaped, stiff, and sticky they tend to block the flow in the blood vessels. Sickle cell anemia is a type of anemia. Anemia is a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells. This condition also can occur if your red blood cells don’t contain enough hemoglobin. Red blood cells are made in the spongy marrow inside the larger bones of the body. Bone marrow is always making new red blood cells to replace old ones. Normal red blood cells live about one-hundred twenty days in the bloodstream and then die. They carry oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from your body. In sickle cell anemia, the abnormal sickle cells usually die after only about ten to twenty days. The bone marrow can’t make new red blood cells fast enough to replace the dying ones. Sickle cell anemia affects body organs as well. It affects the circulatory system, and any organ that is heavily vascular such as liver, kidneys, heart, brain, lungs, and the joints. Also because it affects the blood it can affect any part of the body. The symptoms of sickle cell anemia is severe pain in the chest , stomach, arms, legs, or other parts of the body. Other major symptoms are fever, cough, and having trouble breathing. Also you may seem to be getting dizzy, having cold hands and feet, headaches, and your skin being paler than normal. Both children and adults who have sickle cell anemia may get infections easily and have a hard time fighting them. This is because sickle cell anemia can damage the spleen, an organ that helps fight infections. Infants and young children who have damaged spleens are more likely to get serious infections that can kill them within hours or days. Bloodstream infections are the most common cause of death in young children who have sickle cell anemia.
Getting treatment right away for high fevers (which can be a sign of a severe infection) also helps prevent death in infants and children who have sickle cell anemia. It’s also important to get treatment right away for a cough, problems breathing, bone pain, and headaches. The segments of the population that is prone to getting sickle cell anemia are mostly African Americans, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian Indian, ancestry and
Latino-American population particularly those of the Caribbean. More than hundred million worldwide have the trait; in the United States, one in every five hundred African-American births and one out of every one thousand to one thousand-four hundred Hispanics births is affected by sickle cell anemia. Another two million