Cause of Sickle Cell Disease (part 2)

From my previous post on SCD, an overview of the disease was given. Sickle Cell Disease patients are born with the condition. SCD is caused by two abnormal genes, one from each parent. You or your child’s specific type of SCD depends on which genes were inherited. When two people with genotype AS and AS get married, they are more likely to give birth to a child with sickle cell disease. Medically speaking, they are not compatible.

Each parent has one hemoglobin A gene and one hemoglobin S gene, meaning each child of these parents has:

• A 25% chance of inheriting two normal genes (the child does not have sickle cell disease)
• A 50% chance of inheriting one hemoglobin A gene and one hemoglobin S gene (the child has sickle cell trait)
• 25% chance of inheriting two hemoglobin S genes (the child has sickle cell disease)

SICKLE CELL TRAIT

In simple English, AS. Sickle cell trait occurs when a child inherits a sickle cell gene from one parent and a normal hemoglobin gene from the other. Children with one sickle cell gene are carriers of SCD and have sickle cell trait. While they can pass the trait along to their children, sickle cell trait is not typically considered a disease.

It is most advised that you know your genotype as it enables you to find a partner most suited for you. There are enough diseases we have to deal with which we have absolutely no control over. SCD can be controlled by knowing your genotype and being more conscious of the partners we choose.

SCD is inherited, as stated earlier, hence the only cause is when each parent with hemoglobin S mate and give birth to a child. Some people get really lucky but I’ll rather not find out.