Sickle Cell Anemia Research Paper

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Pages: 3

Sickle Cell Anemia

Hunter Short

Biology Fewer than 200,000 people are affected in the U.S by Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease that affects that blood cells and makes them into an abnormal shape. It makes the blood cell into a boomerang type shape. The hemoglobin gene in the chromosome 2 is affected by this. This disease can result into serious infections and damage to the body organs. There can be different types of this disease that vary on the genes that are inherited from the child’s parents. Children can get it from each sickle cell gene from each parent. The child can also inherit a sickle cell gene from one parent and a different kind of abnormal gene from the other and end up with a different
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It can vary for a child who has inherited a sickle cell gene from one parent and a different abnormal hemoglobin gene from the other. One of the most common symptoms is fatigue. This disease can also cause pain throughout the body from the clumps of blood cells in one spot of the body. Some more symptoms can be pale skin, chest pain, headaches and shortness of breath. Another common symptom is your eyes and skin will start to turn yellow. With the blockage of blood flow this can also do damage to your brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, livers and the spleen.
Anemia:
A particularly severe form of anemia is aplastic anemia. This occurs following infection with parvovirus. Parvovirus causes destruction of the bone marrow, bringing production of new red blood cells to a stop. Bone marrow production starts back after seven to ten days. However given the short lives of sickle cells, even a brief shut down in red blood cell production can cause a rapid decline in hemoglobin concentrations. The bone marrow also stumps the growth of children. However when they’re older they catch back up to their height but they still stay below the weight limit that is average for that age.