What is Sickle cell disease?

SICKLE CELL DISEASE:

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells. In the people who have this disease is shown in red blood cells which contain mostly hemoglobin S, an abnormal type of hemoglobin. Sometimes these red blood cells become sickle-shaped (crescent shaped) and have difficulty passing through small blood vessels.When sickle-shaped cells block small blood vessels, less blood can reach the whole body, so the tissue that does not receive a normal blood flow will damaged.

WHAT CAUSE THIS DEASE AND HOW IS INHERITED?

WHAT IS IT'S TRAIT?

"If someone have any form of sickling disease is caused because, each parent must have an abnormal hemoglobin. One possibility is that each parent has sickle cell trait (AS). Another possibility is when one parent has the disease (SS) and the other parent has sickle cell trait (AS). In hemoglobin SC disease, one parent has sickle cell trait and the other parent has a different trait (hemoglobin C). In sickle beta-thalassemia, one parent has sickle cell trait (or sickle cell anemia) and the other parent carries the trait for beta thalassemia (or has thalassemia,major)."

http://www.nj.gov/health/fhs/sicklecell/familyguide/questions.shtml

Sickle cell conditions are inherited from parents through genes. Genes contain messages that are passed on to the child through the mother's egg and the father's sperm. It is pretty much the same way as blood type, hair color and texture, eye color and other physical traits are inherited, but in this case the types of hemoglobin a person makes in the red blood cells depend upon what hemoglobin genes the person inherits from his or her parents. Like most genes, hemoglobin genes are inherited in two sets, one from each parent. When each parent has sickle cell trait, there is a one in four chance (25% chance) with every pregnancy that the baby could be born with sickle cell disease.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE THE TRAIT?

A blood test, followed by a laboratory technique called Hemoglobin Electrophoresis will determine the type of hemoglobin you have. When you pass an electric charge through a solution of hemoglobin, distinct hemoglobins move different distances, depending on their composition. This technique stay the difference between normal hemoglobin, Sickle hemoglobin , and other different kinds of hemoglobin .