Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia

In: Other Topics

Submitted By qpressure360
Words 1013
Pages 5
Sickle Cell Anemia

Prepared by:
Jozalyn Velez Outline

• Definition
• Symptoms
• Causes
• Diagnosis
• Treatment/prevention
• conclusion

Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited form of anemia, a condition in which there isn’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry sufficient oxygen throughout your body. Normally a person has flexible and round blood cells. With Sickle Cell anemia, Hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells, that carry oxygen in the body, are defective causing some of the red blood cells to change and form a sickle, or crescent moon shape.

Symptoms
Pain: The sickle cells are sticky and get stuck, clump together, resulting in a blockage in the flow of blood small blood vessels. This blockage in the flow of blood causes episodes of pain, called crises, a major symptom of Sickle Cell Anemia, to the person. Anemia: In anemia, the sickle cells die quickly. Normal red blood cells usually last about 120 days before they die and are replaced, but sickle cells only last about 10 to 12 days before they die, resulting in an insufficient amount of red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. This is the reason the person feels fatigued, has shortness of breath, and looks pale..
Delayed Growth: Anemia slows the rate of growth because the body’s cells don’t get the oxygen they need to grow. People with sickle cell anemia usually have a smaller build thanother people of the same age.
Vision Problems: Lack of oxygen can damage the eye, even to the point where the person goes blind.
Infections: People with Sickle Cell Anemia can become more vulnerable to infections because Sickle Cells can damage the spleen, an organ that fights infection.
Stroke: A stoke can occur if the blood flow to a part of the brain is blocked by the sickled cells.
Acute Chest Syndrome: Sickle Cell Anemia

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia

...Sickle cell anemia primarily affects people with African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian ancestry (Learn genetics, 2010; NHLBI, n.d.; Vorvick et al., 2010). Sickle cell anemia occurs when a person inherits two sickle cell gene, one from each parent, that cause the red blood cells to change and become crescent shaped. The underlying problem involves hemoglobin, a component of the red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs (Nabili, 2008, para. 1). In sickle cell anemia, the hemoglobin is flawed. As a result, the cells become sickle shaped and can’t travel as easily through blood vessels. Sickle cell anemia is an illness which has one primary cause, but a variety of symptoms and treatments. Like most illnesses, sickle cell anemia has one primary cause. In order for sickle cell anemia to occur, a sickle cell gene must be inherited from both the mother and the father, so that the child has two sickle cell genes (Shiel, 2006, para. 3). The sickle cell gene causes the body to make abnormal hemoglobin. As mentioned above, hemoglobin is a protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs (Nabili, 2008, para. 1). A person with normal red blood cell will have hemoglobin A, however a person with sickle cell disease will have hemoglobin S (Sickle...

Words: 998 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia

...Sickle-cell disease From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the disease itself. For the genetic transmission of sickle-cell disease and its carrier state, see sickle cell trait. Not to be confused with Sick cell syndrome. Sickle-cell disease Classification and external resources Figure (A) shows normal red blood cells flowing freely through veins. The inset shows a cross section of a normal red blood cell with normal haemoglobin. Figure B shows abnormal, sickled red blood cells log jamming, sticking and accumulating at the branching point in a vein. The inset image shows a cross-section of a sickle cell with long polymerized HbS strands stretching and distorting the cell shape. ICD-10 D57 ICD-9 282.6 OMIM 603903 DiseasesDB 12069 MedlinePlus 000527 eMedicine med/2126 oph/490ped/2096 emerg/26emerg/406 MeSH C15.378.071.141.150.150 GeneReviews • Sickle-cell disease Sickle-cell disease (SCD), or sickle-cell anaemia (SCA) or drepanocytosis, is a hereditary blood disorder, characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape. Sickling decreases the cells' flexibility and results in a risk of various complications. The sickling occurs because of a mutation in the haemoglobin gene. Individuals with one copy of the defunct gene display both normal and abnormal haemoglobin. This is an example of codominance. Life expectancy is shortened. In 1994, in the US, the average life expectancy of persons with...

Words: 4210 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia

...Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which the body’s red blood cells become misshapen. The red blood cells, which are normally round with a small indentation in the middle, become hard and crescent-shaped. They can’t fit through the small blood vessels and get stuck in the capillaries and block the blood flow. Oxygenated blood cannot get to the tissues, and this causes severe pain and in some cases, death of the tissues. Prolonged oxygen deprivation can even cause death, depending on the tissue affected, and many victims of sickle cell anemia have a shorter lifespan than people with normal blood cells. Although sickle cell anemia as many symptoms, the most common sign of the disease is severe pain. The pain can be anywhere in the body but is often present in the back and stomach and occurs in episodes. These episodes are called sickling crises. To people who aren’t familiar with sickle cell anemia, the pain of the disease can be confused with ordinary stomach aches or back pain. Normal blood cells live about 120 days, or four months, but since the sickle cells are weak and fragile, they die after only ten or twenty days. This leads to a chronic deficiency in red blood cells. The hands and feet of a sickle cell anemia victim may become swollen due to sickled cells blocking blood flow out of them. Although less common, other symptoms of sickle cell anemia include frequent infections, vision problems, and delayed growth. More severe symptoms may include temporary or permanent...

Words: 1026 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia

... Sickle Cell Anemia Assignment #2 BIOL 1010 James Cheetham May 29 2014 Sickle Cell Anemia, Also known as Hemoglobin S Disease (HbS Disease), spreads along the lines of anemic or iron deficient blood types . Hemoglobin is the red protein that is responsible for transporting Oxygen in vertebrates. It is composed of 4 protein subunits, two called Alpha – globin and two called Beta-globin. The HBB gene, located on the 11th Chromosome (11p15.4 specifically and its locus MIM number is141900), provides “Instructions “ for making the beta globin but unfortunately nothing in life is perfect and mutations are bound to occur. Various versions of Beta Globin result from different kinds of mutations in the HBB gene. Some mutations in the HBB gene lead to abnormal versions of beta globin such as hemoglobin C (HbC) and hemoglobin E (HbE). HBB gene mutations can also result in unusually low levels of beta-globin; this abnormality is called beta thalassemia .One particular mutation produces the abnormal HbS Beta globin. People with sickle cell disease, at least one of the beta globin subunits in hemoglobin are replaced with hemoglobin S. For example, people with sickle hemoglobin C (HbSC) disease have hemoglobin molecules with hemoglobin S and hemoglobin C instead of beta globin If mutations that produce Hemoglobin S and beta thalassemia occur together, individuals have hemoglobin S-beta thalassemia (HbSBetaThal). In people with Sickle Cell Anemia, both...

Words: 778 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia

...A A Ms. Songer AP Biology February 16 2015 Sickle Cell Anemia: Case Study Summary Sickle Cell Anemia is a painful diseases that is caused by a mutation in the protein called hemoglobin which helps carry oxygen in red blood cells. Because of the mutation, the hemoglobin is shaped oddly which results in pain because it is hard for the blood to travel throughout the body and anemia because of the lack of oxygen in the blood. A person can only have this disease if both parents are carriers and they receive two recessive alleles. There are five effects of the disease at different levels. At the DNA level the mutation causes the sequence to be coded GTG, CAC instead of GAG, CTC which results in a mutant protein. At the protein level the hemoglobin clump together which makes it hard for it to travel through arteries and vessels. At the cellular level the blood cell because “sickle shaped” due to the lack of oxygen that constricts blood flow. In an organism sickle cell anemia causes pain and fatigue during exercise. The only positive effect is the resistance to malaria. These examples show how a small mutation has a very large (sometimes fatal) effect. Therefor large and small mutations can have big effects (“A case study of the effects of mutation: Sickle cell anemia,” 2015) 1. Sickle Cell Anemia is an autosomal recessive disease. These means that both parents of the offspring have to have one normal gene and one mutated gene. The mutated gene is caused by substitution in an...

Words: 929 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia Paper

...This paper will describe what sickle cell anemia is, how it effects the human body; as well as the oral cavity. Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disease caused by abnormal hemoglobin, which causes the red blood cells to have low oxygen levels (National Heart, Lungs and Blood Institute, 2015). Sickle cell anemia is inherited only if both parents have the disorder because it is caused by the genetic abnormality of hemoglobin (webMD, 2015). When there is abnormal hemoglobin it can produce sickle hemoglobin (webMD, 2015). This causes the red blood cells to stick together and create long rod shaped red blood cells when oxygen leaves the cell (webMD, 2015). When this happens it causes the symptoms of sickle cell anemia (webMD, 2015). In people...

Words: 857 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia Research Paper

...Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle Cell Anemia is a condition where it’s not enough healthy red blood cells, which carry adequate oxygen throughout your body. Normally our Red Blood Cells are flexible and round and move easily through the blood vessels. In Sickle Cell Anemia, the red blood cells get rigid and Sticky and they become shaped like a little crescent moon. The irregularly shape cells can get stuck in small blood vessels, which slows or blocks blood flow and oxygen to parts of the body. A way to tell how you have Sickle Cell Anemia is periodic pain, called crisis are a major symptom of Sickle Cell Anemia. This pain can last for hours or even weeks at a time. Painful swelling of hands and feet. Frequent...

Words: 328 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia Research Paper

...report I want to talk about sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia is a blood disease that changes the shape of the red blood cells from the circular shape to the shape of the crescent. The shape of the sickle changes into a crescent, which is difficult to pass through the small blood vessels. When this occurs, it is difficult to enter oxygen throughout the body. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich substance that makes blood red and allows red blood cells to carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. The abnormal hemoglobin causes red blood cells to be rigid, sticky and deformed. The father and mother must transmit the defective form of the gene in order for the child to be affected. If a parent transports the gene, the child will have some cells that have been...

Words: 627 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia in First Person

...Sickle Cell Anemia My Sickle Cell Anemia Story My name is Haley Arsenault, I am fifteen years old and living with sickle cell anemia. That sentence sounds so sad, so depressing, as if that is the only way to define my existence. As if my disease defines my entire life when I have been doing everything I can to be a normal teenager, a normal high school student. It’s hard sometimes to distance myself from the disease because I am constantly reminded of it and how it affects my life. My parents, my doctors, my therapist, and my teachers are always concerned about me and it can be overwhelming. My therapist, Kate, is having me write down my “sickle cell anemia story” in my journal as a way to cope….well here goes nothing Kate! I think the best way to start would be the cause of my sickle cell anemia. The disease is strictly an inherited disease, meaning you can only get it from inheriting two genes for sickle hemoglobin, one from each of your parents. It is a lifelong disease with currently no known cure. Neither of my parents have sickle cell anemia but they are both carry the sickle cell trait. This means that they can pass the gene on to me but fortunately they show no symptoms of anemia and live normal lives (well, I wouldn’t say they are exactly “normal” but you know what I mean….). I had a 25 percent chance of being born with two abnormal genes, which happened, and the abnormal genes cause me to have the disorder. My parents and I are African-American which is significant...

Words: 1846 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Genetic Disorders: Sickle Cell Anemia

...Sickle cell anemia is the most prevalent genetic disorder in the United States, which falls under the broad term of sickle cell disease. This term is frequently used to describe a group of chronic hemolytic anemias (Falvo and Holland, 2014; National Human Genome Research Institute, 2016). Chronic hemolytic anemias, or SCA is an inherited disorder characterized by abnormal hemoglobin caused by a recessive allele that changes its structure (Falvo and Holland, 2014). An individual can inherit two sickle cell genes (one from each parent) or a sickle cell gene in combination with another abnormal gene that causes this change within their red blood cells. A normal hemoglobin molecule is biconcave shaped which allows red blood cells to flow easily...

Words: 1238 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia Research Paper

...Josiah Hicks Genetic (Or Not) Disorders There are many diseases and disorders in the world, they all have different causes and effects. Some of the causes may be genetic, some might be the result of the surrounding environments, and some even remain unexplained. Today, I’m going to cover some of them, I’m going to explain the causes of the disorders, the resulting effects of the disorder, and if there is a cure. Sickle cell anemia or SCD is a hereditary disorder (meaning that it is acquired through the parents) and is categorized by the most prominent effect on the body’s production and storage of the a molecule in...

Words: 1410 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Anemia Research Paper

...Sickle cell anemia(SCD) is an inherited genetic disorder which causes the expression of defective hemoglobin on chromosome 11 resulting irregularly shaped red blood cells also known as “sickle cells” because they look like a sickle or are in a crescent shape. The normal red blood cells are round, smooth and deliver oxygen to cells throughout the body but a cluster of sickle shaped cells blocks the blood flow, causing painful attacks and sometimes stroke. Due to their different shape and chemistry, they are controlled by many free radical processes. This paper will talk about the frequency this disease, inheritance pattern, genetic changes, current research and/or efforts to develop vaccine, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of sickle cell anemia....

Words: 1150 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Leukemia and Sickle Cell Anemia

...then there adult counterparts. With childhood leukemia treatments, some of the after effects of the treatment can last throughout ones adulthood. The Different Types of Leukemia. Leukemia, the types are grouped based on the plasma cell that’s affected. Leukemia, there is four different types to be considered. (CLL) Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: All the (lymphoid) cells are affected and they also grow slow do to the affection. This type accounts for the most of the leukemia’s found is personnel. People that are affected with this type of leukemia are those within the late ages. It is rarely ever found in children. (CML) Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: The (myeloid) cells are the one affected in this type and at first it grows slow then it picks up later on. This type also accounts for nearly a ¼ of new cases reported each year. Mainly affecting only adults. (ALL) Acute Lymphocytic (Lymphoblastic) Leukemia: Only the (lymphoid) cells are affected at a rapid rate and continue to grow quickly. This type also accounts for a ¼ of new cases of leukemia reported each year. This type is the main leukemia located in children at a young age. It may also affect adults to. (AML) Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Affects only (myeloid) cells only and grows rapidly. It accounts for more than a 1/3rd of new cases reported each year. It may be found in children and adults, it doesn’t have a particular host it wants to pick. What are the Risk Factors? There are many types...

Words: 1226 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Sickel

...Sickle Cell Disease is an illness that affects people all across the globe. This paper will give a description of the sickness through the discussion of the causes, symptoms, and possible cures. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a "group of inherited red blood cell disorders."(1) These disorders can have various afflictions, such as pain, damage and a low blood count--Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States. Approximately 80,000 Americans have the disease. In the United States, sickle cell disease is most prevalent among African Americans. About one in 12 African Americans and about one in 100 Hispanic Americans carry the sickle cell trait, which means they are carriers of the disease. Sickle cell disease is caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin-Beta gene found on chromosome 11. Hemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body. Red blood cells with normal hemoglobin (hemoglobin-A) are smooth and round and glide through blood vessels. In people with sickle cell disease, abnormal hemoglobin molecules - hemoglobin S - stick to one another and form long, rod-like structures. These structures cause red blood cells to become stiff, assuming a sickle shape. Their shape causes these red blood cells to pile up, causing blockages and damaging vital organs and tissue. Sickle cells are destroyed rapidly in the bodies of people with the disease, causing anemia. This anemia is what gives the disease...

Words: 2074 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Sickle Cell Disease

...A Report on Sickle Cell Disease Name: Professor: Course: Date: Sickle Cell Disease Sickle cell disease is a life threatening illness passed down from parents to children through the genes (Piel & Weatherall, 2015). The disease therefore, is present at birth but the signs come to the fore after the fourth month. The disease has been recognized as a major public health concern by international agencies and is common among many people in Africa, the Arabian Gulf, Turkey, India; the Mediterranean and their descendants spread around the world. For instance, in United States one in 400 African-American infants is born with sickle cell disease annually (Ibid). Description of Sickle Cell Disease Sickle cell disease comprises of red blood cell disorders whose main feature is abnormal hemoglobin in the red blood cells. Hemoglobin is an oxygen carrying protein in the red blood cells (Peterson, 2008). The abnormality of the hemoglobin is caused by a mutation in a gene of the hemoglobin protein. This abnormality hinders the proper formation globin genes of the hemoglobin molecules resulting in abnormal hemoglobin that may take the forms of “S” hemoglobin or “SC” hemoglobin or “beta-thalassemia” hemoglobin as noted by (Rees, Williams & Gladwin, 2010). Types of Sickle Cell Disease The disorders; sickle cell anemia disease (caused by “S” hemoglobin), “SC” disease (caused...

Words: 1934 - Pages: 8