What causes the disease sickle cell anemia?

What causes the disease sickle cell anemia?

Sickle cell anemia is caused by a mutation in the gene that tells your body to make the iron-rich compound that makes blood red and enables red blood cells to carry oxygen from your lungs throughout your body (hemoglobin).

How is sickle cell disease transmitted and how common is it?

Sickle cell disease is not contagious, so you can’t catch it from someone else or pass it to another person like a cold or an infection. People with sickle cell disease have it because they inherited two sickle cell genes , one from each parent.

How is sickle cell anemia a genetic disease?

A genetic disease. Sickle cell anemia results from a mutation in a gene called HBB, which contains the blueprint for cells to make part of a protein called hemoglobin. The hemoglobin protein is made up of two alpha chains and two beta chains.

What causes red blood cells to become sickle shaped?

Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the beta globin gene that leads to faulty hemoglobin protein, called hemoglobin S. Hemoglobin S changes flexible red blood cells into rigid, sickle-shaped cells.

How does sickle cell disease occur in parents?

Sickle cell disease mainly arises when both parents are the carriers of the defective hemoglobin gene. The patient inherits two copies of the mutated hemoglobin gene, one copy from each parent. The proper manifestations of the disease usually occur in the presence of certain triggers like stress, dehydration,…

Who are the carriers of sickle cell disease?

Sickle cell disease mainly arises when both parents are the carriers of the defective hemoglobin gene. The patient inherits two copies of the mutated hemoglobin gene, one copy from each parent.

What is the life span of sickle – cell anemia?

Those with the condition have abnormal hemoglobin, or sickle-shaped cells. Those cells can cause blockages of blood to organs and tissues, debilitating pain, and life-threatening complications. People with sickle cell disease have an average life expectancy of 40 to 60 years.

What causes elevated WBC in sickle cell?

Additional causes of leukocytosis may include stress, sickle cell anemia, and the use of certain medications. Disease processes such as heart disease, cancer, or ulcerative colitis may also cause a high white blood cell count.

What is the prognosis for sickle cell disease?

Some people with the disease can remain without symptoms for years, while others do not survive beyond infancy or early childhood. New treatments for sickle cell disease are improving life expectancy and quality of life. People with sickle cell disease can survive beyond their 50s with optimal management of the disease.

Who are some famous people with sickle cell anemia?

A number of famous individuals have suffered from sickle cell anemia including Miles Davis, perhaps the most famous jazz musician to have lived (some consider his platinum-selling album Kind of Blue to be THE jazz album), and Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, a singer and founder of the R&B/hip-hop group TLC.