Facts About Sickle-Cell Trait
Sickle-cell disease is a blood disorder that causes red blood cells to form into a sickle shape, which makes it difficult for them to pass through smaller blood vessels. A substance in red blood cells called hemoglobin S, which is present instead of hemoglobin A, causes this sickle effect.
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Trait vs. Disease
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Sickle-cell trait is the carrier state of sickle-cell disease. Carriers are generally healthy, but if they have a child with someone who has sickle-cell anemia, their offspring will have a 50 percent chance of having sickle-cell disease.
Sickle-cell Anemia
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Sickle-cell anemia occurs in those with two copies of the sickle-cell trait. The loss of red blood cells occurs when the immune system destroys the faulty red blood cells that are sickle-shaped.
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Benefits
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Those who have sickle-cell trait are naturally immune to the parasite that causes malaria. The sickle-shaped red blood cells discourage the reproduction of the parasite that causes the disease.
Complications
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Additional complications that result from having sickle-cell trait are blood in the urine, urinary tract infections for women, bleeding inside the eye's inner chamber, blood supply loss in the spleen and sudden death with exercise.
Distribution
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Sickle-cell trait, anemia and disease are found among black African-Americans, Caribbean Hispanics, southern Asians, Arabs, Greeks, Turks, Maltese and Sardinian ancestries.
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