By Cole Abernathy

Sickle Cell Anemia was named in 1922 by a resident at Johns-Hopkins, Verne Mason. The first to find Sickle shaped cells was Ernest Edward in 1910 while looking at a dental student from Grenada.

Sickle Cell Anemia is the condition where an afflicted person has inherited 2 S alleles for hemoglobin erythrocyte production from their parents(normal people have 2 A alleles). This causes Red blood cells to be S or sickle shaped. Sickle Cell trait is when someone has 1 A and 1S allele.

People with one of each allele produce both normal and sickle shaped erythrocytes.

There are no obvious symptoms of those with Sickle Cell. Now children are screened to see if they have acquired some form of sickle cell.

Sickle cell may cause Vaso-occlusive crisis which is painful blockages of capillaries due to the sickle shape of the cell. Sickle Cell Often causes the spleen to fail and rupture(asplenia) which is usually fatal unless treated quickly due to pooling blood.

People with Sickle cell already have a base Anemia but this may worsen to become Aplastic crises which is an acute worsening of this which causes many heart complications. There are many other side effects.

People use Folic acid and Penicillin to keep it under management Blood transfusions also lower the number of cells that may sickle Bone marrow transplants have been affective in children

People with Sickle cell trait have a resistance to many forms of malaria. There is more of a resistance in the more severe strains( 90% of fatal strains), than the more mild strains ( 50% of mild strains). People with Sickle cell anemia adversely are more painfully affected then people with normal hemoglobin and do not have the resistance to malaria.

Sickle cell is most common in areas where there is malaria.( usually sub Saharan or Tropical regions)

Sickle cell affects people of African descent, but also people of South American descent In the U.S. Sickle Cell anemia affects 1 in 5000 In African Americans 1 in 12 have Sickle Cell trait, and 1 in 500 have Sickle Cell anemia In Hispanic Americans 1 in 100 have Sickle Cell trait, and 1 in 36,000 have Sickle Cell anemia. 75% of cases occur in Africa.

Larger: Sickle Cell Disease Association of America Sickle Cell Society Smaller: Sickle Cell Disease Foundation of California Houston Sickle Cell Foundation