Sickle Cell Anemia Information - picture, symptom, cause, treatment, history of Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle Cell Anemia Information

Sickle Cell Anemia may be the result of a genetic mutation that happened in malaria prone regions like Africa thousands of year ago. People with Sickle Cell Anemia trait may have been more likely to survive malaria epidemics and because they survived when others did not, this allowed the Sickle Cell Anemia trait to passed down through generations. Sickle cell anemia is not contagious, so you can't catch it from someone else or pass it to another person like a cold or other infection. Sickle cell disorders are best classified by genotype. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is caused by the malfunction of the red blood cells in affected individuals causing a very severe form of anemia. Even though there is no cure for sickle cell disease, Sickle Cell Disease is treated by taking folic acid and penicillin throughout the life of an affected individual.

Sickle cell trait

Sickle cell trait is different from sickle cell anemia. A person with sickle cell trait does not have the disease but carries the gene that causes the disease. Sickle cell anemia affects the red blood cells . People who have sickle cell trait don't have sickle cell anemia or symptoms of the disease, but they can pass the sickle cell gene to their own children.