Sickle+Cell+Anemia

=Sickle Cell Anemia:=

**__ Sickle Cell Anemia (Hemoglobin SS Disease) __** ** By: Matias Regidor ** ** Definition/Summary: ** Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease passed down through parents/generations in which red blood cells for into an unfamiliar shape (crescent shaped), while normal red blood cells are disc shaped. This type of disease is caused by hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein inside red blood cells which carry oxygen through the body. In sickle cell anemia, your hemoglobin protein is an abnormal type called Hemoglobin S. This means that your blood cells are affected by it and are re-shaped into crescents especially when exposed to low oxygen levels. With this affect intact, your body’s tissues get less oxygen than normal and in addition, the red blood cells can get stuck in your blood vessels easier and interrupt the blood flow. (//Red Blood Cells, Multiple Sickle Cells, PubMed Health//) ||
 * Figure 1: In this figure, the red blood cells are in the blood vessels and show that some of the cells are oddly shaped and look like a crescent/Sickle.

This disease is inherited from both parents. For example, if one person has a parent with Hemoglobin S but has the other one with Hemoglobin A (normal), they will not acquire the disease but will have the sickle cell trait, therefore do not have the symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia. On the other hand, if someone has both parents with Hemoglobin S, they will acquire Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle Cell Anemia is not a contagious disease; it is a strictly hereditary disease. Finding out if you have sickle cell anemia is very simple. A simple blood test could show that you have this disease.
 * How Does Someone Get Sickle Cell Anemia? **

In Figure 2, we have a table showing a human gene code. On the first section (Sequence for Wild-Type Hemoglobin) we see a regular human gene and on the next section (Sequence for Mutant [Sickle-Cell] Hemoglobin) show the mutation of the gene that produces the Hemoglobin S delivering the Sickle Cell Trait or Sickle Cell Anemia. The difference from these two sections is one little letter. One abnormality in the gene code can cause major defects in the human formation. In this case, the mutation is a change from a regular Adenine base to a Thymine base. The regular codon sequence in a normal gene is GAG, whilst in the mutated gene, the codon sequence is GTG. Not only does the base sequence mutate, the protein sequence (amino acids) does as well. The protein switches from Glutamic Acid to Valine Acid. This affects the overall protein chain, causing the gene mutation and inflicting the disease.
 * Figure 2 Deep Analyses: **

Figure 2: Table comparing the regular human gene code sequence from the mutated (sickle cell) gene sequence. (//Genetic Mutation, Scitable//)
 * Explanation: **
 * ** Sequence for ** Wild-Type ** Hemoglobin ** ||
 * ATG ||  GTG  ||  CAC  ||  CTG  ||  ACT  ||  CCT  ||  GAG  ||  GAG  ||  AAG  ||  TCT  ||  GCC  ||  GTT  ||  ACT  ||
 * Start ||  Val  ||  His  ||  Leu  ||  Thr  ||  Pro  ||  Glu  ||  Glu  ||  Lys  ||  Ser  ||  Ala  ||  Val  ||  Thr  ||
 * ** Sequence for ** Mutant ** (Sickle-Cell) Hemoglobin ** ||
 * ATG ||  GTG  ||  CAC  ||  CTG  ||  ACT  ||  CCT  ||  GTG  ||  GAG  ||  AAG  ||  TCT  ||  GCC  ||  GTT  ||  ACT  ||
 * Start ||  Val  ||  His  ||  Leu  ||  Thr  ||  Pro  ||  Val  ||  Glu  ||  Lys  ||  Ser  ||  Ala  ||  Val  ||  Thr  ||

The symptoms for Sickle Cell Anemia are usually minor, but in some cases can appear consistently and be devastating. Some of the symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia are:
 * Symptoms: **
 * Jaundice (condition that appears when the rate of breakdown red blood cells is high. This condition makes your skin and the white’s of your eyes a yellowish tint.)
 * Bouts of severe pain can be experienced when the sickle cells block the blood flow causing the body’s tissues to not get enough oxygen to function properly. Can be experienced in chest, arms, legs, and stomach.
 * Being tired and having trouble fighting infections is normal.
 * Slower puberty development because of slower growth rate.
 * Trouble breathing.
 * Acute chest syndrome.
 * Pain Crises (may vary in severity, consistency, and last for different periods of time.)

1. Benefits
 * Sickle Cell Anemia Benefits and Limitations: **
 * Disease is easy to easy to detect (simple blood test).
 * If only one of your parents, you will only inherit the sickle cell trait, not the actual disease.
 * The disease has shown to somewhat “protect” over malaria, therefore if a sickle cell carrier resides in a country with high malaria rates, he/she is less likely to catch that disease. Since sickle cell anemia is most common around Africa and the Middle-East where malaria is mostly discovered, the disease is an extent advantage. This advantage is caused by the fact that malaria is spread through red blood cells and the contact with human blood, and since in sickle cell anemia the blood cells cannot produce enough oxygen or allow blood flow to regulate, malaria is less likely to be caught by the carrier.


 * Even if both parents are sickle cell carriers, the child has ¼ (25%) of inheriting the gene from both parents, therefore having 75% chance of not inheriting both genes.
 * Some cases of sickle cell anemia won’t develop any symptoms for years.

2. Limitations
 * People affected by sickle cell anemia have less life expectancy than people who don’t.
 * Some victims do not survive infancy or early childhood.
 * Most patients suffer pain crises, fatigue, as well as tissue and organ damage.
 * Puberty is delayed and impaired growth as well as slow development.
 * People with sickle cell anemia have high death rates and include strokes, bacterial infection (other diseases, colds), and internal bleeding.
 * Physical activities cannot be performed at such high rates or time frames (because of the lack of oxygen flowing through the body). If someone with this disease performs too much physical activities symptoms such as dehydration and unconsciousness can be experienced. This also includes being at high altitudes for a long time also because of the lack of oxygen.

Sickle Cell Anemia is most common in African-Americans, Indians, and other people from the Middle East. This disease is the most common blood disease in the United States, and more than 10% of those people are African-Americans or from African-American decent. The reason for this is not reliable, it is simply genetics. It just happens that African-Americans and people from the Middle-East have a different genetic code than others and therefore can be inflicted with the disease easier. Americans have got the disease through generations. If one of the family members has sickle cell anemia, or even sickle cell trait, an offspring could inherit the trait and therefore is a carrier and will keep passing it down through generations. (//Sickle Cell Disease Timeline, Mvc//) ||
 * Issues associated with Sickle Cell Anemia **
 * 1) Ethnical
 * Figure 3: This image shows a picture of Hemoglobin S distribution throughout the world.

In modern society, it is very traumatizing for the parents of a newborn child to find out that their son/daughter has been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. In most modern health care facilities, experts provide aid and counseling help to the parents of the child to help ease the pain and fear of their child being in grave danger. They also suggest connection and communication to other families that have been affected by this disease to help the couple learn about the disease/diagnosis and also to address the family’s worry over their son’s condition. Another concern to these families is letting their family member (siblings, brother/sisters, aunts, etc) that they might be diagnosed with this condition as well, especially those relatives at a “reproductive age”.
 * 1) Social/Cultural

**Bibliography**
 * Clancy, Suzanne. "Genetic Mutation." //Scitable//. Nature Education, 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * Frenette, and Atweh. "Sickle Cell Anemia & Malaria Resistance." //23 and Me//. N.p., 2007. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * Midline, and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. "Sickle Cell Disease." //Institute of Medicine of the Nationa Academies//. National Academies Press, 17 Feb. 2005. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * Mvc. "Sickle Cell Disease Timeline." //Mvc//. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * PubMed Health. "Sickle cell anemia." //PubMed Health//. U.S National Library of Medicine, 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * Shiel Jr., William C. "Sickle Cell (cont.)." //Medicine Net//. Medicine Net, 12 Apr. 2006. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * Teen Health. "Sickle Cell Anemia." //Kids Health//. Nemours, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .
 * Zieve, David. "Red Blood Cells, Multiple Skicle Cells." //PubMed Health//. N.p., 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. .