Sickle Cell Anemia Research Papers

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease in mostly people of Mediterranean, African, or Southeast Asian heritage which occurs when a person inherits the genes for sickle hemoglobin(NHLB). Sickle cell anemia is named from the shape that the red blood cells take because they become a crescent/sickle shape. Normally these red blood cells are flexible and round, but with sickle cell anemia they become rigid and sticky(Mayo Clinic) This shape inhibits the normal functions of red blood cells and they also cause blockages in blood flow to the limbs. The signs and symptoms of the disease vary, ranging from mild symptoms to drastic and hospital inducing health problems. There currently exists no widely available cure for sickle cell anemia, but as time passes and more research is done it is hopeful that there will be a cure.

1910 was the official discovery of the sickle cell disease(Howard). This was only the first discovery in America though, as the disease had been present in Africa for years before, and it had many names in the different tongues of the people there. The discovery in America was made by a Dr. James B. Herrick in a dental student studying in America who originated Grenada. Dr. Herrick analyzed the blood of the student under a microscope and saw red blood cells which he described as having the shape of a sickle and thus the name was born. Through the years as people were tested for this disease, doctors began to conclude that it originated and was nearly exclusive in people of African descent. in 1927, Dr. Hahn Gillespie found that by removing oxygen from people with the sickle cell disease. The sickling could also be found in others with relatives who had sickle cell. When deprived of oxygen, the ...

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...eople. The physical and mental struggle effects more than two million people in the United States alone. This disease is one that does not get enough credit as a real risk to health. The people living with this hardship are faced with a bleak outlook until a cure is found, and until then there will be countless blood transfusions done and more and more clinical trials will need to be done to get everything in order to combat this disease. There are currently many trials under way in an attempt to test out new drugs for preventing the different symptoms of sickle cell(such as strokes in children) and to cure the disease as a whole. Before having children it is suggested that both parents get tested for the trait. A person can carry the trait but not be aware, and then pass it on to their child who may end up with more than just the trait, but get the disease itself.