Compliments of the season to our dedicated health columnist and Daily Trust Newspaper. Last week, precisely on June 19, the world celebrated World Sickle Cell Day.
Kindly share simple information about Sickle Cell Anemia to your teeming readers. Mrs Cecelia X.
Thanks, Cecelia, for your question and kind words. Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited form of anemia, a condition in which there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen throughout the body. Normally, red blood cells are flexible and round in shape, moving easily through the blood vessels. In Sickle cell anemia, the red blood cells become rigid and sticky and are shaped like sickles or crescent moons.
What are the symptoms?
1. Periodic episodes of pain, called crises, are a major symptom of sickle cell anemia. Pain develops when sickle-shaped red blood cells block blood flow through tiny blood vessels to the chest, abdomen and joints. Pain can also occur in the bones.
2. Painful swelling of hands and feet. The swelling is caused by sickle-shaped red blood cells blocking blood flow to the hands and feet.
3. Frequent infections.
4. Delayed growth. Red blood cells provide the body with the oxygen and nutrients one needs for growth. A shortage of healthy red blood cells can slow growth in infants and children and delay puberty in teenagers.
5. Vision problems. Tiny blood vessels that supply the eyes may become plugged with sickle cells. This can damage the retina, leading to vision problems.
What are the causes?
• Sickle cell anemia is caused by a mutation in the gene that tells the body to make the red, iron-rich compound that gives blood its red colour (hemoglobin). Hemoglobin allows red blood cells to carry oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body. In Sickle cell anemia, the abnormal hemoglobin causes red blood cells to become rigid, sticky and misshapen.
• The Sickle cell gene is passed from generation to generation in a pattern of inheritance called autosomal recessive inheritance. This means that both the mother and the father must pass on the defective form of the gene for a child to be affected.
• If only one parent passes the Sickle cell gene to the child, that child will have the Sickle cell trait. With one normal hemoglobin gene and one defective form of the gene. People with the Sickle cell trait make both normal hemoglobin and Sickle cell hemoglobin. Their blood might contain some sickle cells called carriers.”
Examples of complications
1. A stroke can occur if sickle cells block blood flow to an area of the brain. Signs of stroke include seizures, weakness or numbness of the arms and legs, sudden speech difficulties, and loss of consciousness.
2. Acute chest syndrome. This life-threatening complication causes chest pain, fever and difficulty breathing.
3. Organ damage. Sickle cells that block blood flow through blood vessels immediately deprive the affected organ of blood and oxygen. Chronic deprivation of oxygen-rich blood can damage nerves and organs in the body, including kidneys, liver and spleen.
4. Blindness. Sickle cells can block tiny blood vessels that supply the eyes. Over time, this can damage the portion of the eye that processes visual images (retina) and lead to blindness.
5. Leg ulcers. Sickle cell anemia can cause open sores, called ulcers on the legs.
6. Gallstones. The breakdown of red blood cells produces a substance called bilirubin. A high level of bilirubin in the body can lead to gallstones.
7. Priapism. Men with sickle cell anemia can have painful, long-lasting erections, a condition called priapism.
How to reduce the Sickle cell crises?
• Exercise regularly but not so much that one becomes really tired. When you exercise, drink lots of fluids.
• Drink at least 8 to 12 glasses of water a day during warm weather.
• Reduce or avoid stress.
• Treat any infection as soon as it occurs.
• Wear warm clothes outside in cold weather and inside in air-conditioned rooms during hot weather.
• If you have another medical condition, like diabetes, get treatment and control the condition.
• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, get early prenatal care.
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