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Essay on sickle cell aneamia with malaria
Essay on sickle cell aneamia with malaria
Introduction to sickle cell anemia
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Sickle Cell Anemia: A Curse and a Blessing
Sickle Cell Anemia is a disease found right here in America, but in low levels compared to some areas of the world. The rate for this disease is around five times greater in certain places in Africa. That is because the potentially fatal disease Sickle Cell Anemia can also work as a sort of vaccination for another disease called malaria. First the mechanics of Sickle Cell Anemia will be discussed, then its possible benefits.
Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited condition. One gene for Sickle Cell Anemia must be inherited from each parent in order to have the disease. A person who receives a gene for Sickle Cell Anemia from one parent and a normal gene from the other has a condition called sickle cell trait. Sickle cell trait produces no symptoms or problems for most people. Sickle Cell Anemia can neither be contracted nor passed on to another person. The severity of sickle cell disease varies greatly. Some people with sickle cell disease lead lives that are nearly normal. Others are less fortunate, and can suffer from a variety of conditions.
Sickle Cell Anemia is caused by a change in the chemical composition of the protein hemoglobin which is responsible for delivering oxygen throughout our bodies. Normal hemoglobin is found as a round shape, and is composed of four proteins – two alpha chains and two beta chains. The change that causes Sickle Cell Anemia occurs when an amino acid called valine is substituted for glutamic acid in both of the beta chains. This change in the composure of hemoglobin causes the shape to change when under certain conditions. Two of these conditions are low oxygen and dehydration. The hemoglobin of a person with Sickle Cell Anemia then becomes elongated and curved, hence the name sickle cell. When this happens many problems can occur, primarily blood clotting which leads to a lack of oxygen in body tissues. Other negative affects of Sickle Cell Anemia are a weakened heart because it is constantly overworked. Also, bone marrow is affected and bones become softer than usual. While there is no cure for Sickle Cell Anemia there is treatment. The primary goal is to reduce the frequency of the Sickle Cell Anemia crisis episodes and maintain enough red blood cells to keep body tissues healthy.
Sickle Cell Anemia is an autosomal recessive disorder, which increases blood thickness hence affects the smooth flow of blood. This causes by the destruction of red cells where the normal shape of red cell become a stiff sickle shape. As a result, sufficient oxygen does not reach the vital organs. A vaso-occlusive crisis arises from hindrance of blood circulation by sickled blood cells. It is characterized by sturdy pains and in some cases; it may cause permanent organ damage. This paper seeks to formulate a nursing diagnosis, as well as a plan of care that includes nursing interventions and the methods to be used to evaluate whether the interventions are successful (American Sickle Cell Anemia Association).
Malaria survives on healthy red-blood cells and carriers do not have a lot of healthy red-blood cells. Similarly to how those with hemochromatosis starved the bubonic plague of iron, sickle cell anemia carriers starve malaria of red-blood cells. The proactive effect of malaria only works on those who have one copy of sickle cell anemia and not the actual illness. If one has sickle cell anemia, one is more likely to get malaria. Nonetheless, malaria is such a vicious disease that anything that can aid in the fight against it and towards survival and reproduction is helpful.
1. Sickle Cell Disease is life-threatening and has a risk of of causing depression. In this study I examine the experiences that Sickle Cell patients go through specifically at emergency healthcare facilities to find out if there are any negative stigmatizations surrounding this disease. There may be judgments that are made about these patients from healthcare professionals when they seek drugs for their pain relief that may cause the stigmatization to occur. I will also investigate why individuals that have Sickle Cell Disease experience longer waiting times at emergency healthcare facilities and the lack of control they may have over their care regime.
Sickle cell disease is a group of disorders that affects the blood, specifically, a molecule called hemoglobin in red blood cells (“sickle cell disease”, 2016). Hemoglobin is a molecule that facilitates the delivery of oxygen throughout the body (“sickle cell disease”, 2016). A mutant form of the hemoglobin molecule causes red blood cells to become crescent shaped or “sickled shaped” (Lonergan et. al. 2001). This distorted shape of red blood cells causes rigidity of the blood cells and vaso-occulusion (or the blood vessels to become clogged) (Rees et.al., 2010). This often leads to a low number of red blood cells (anemia), repeated infections and episodes of pain that are periodic (“Sickle cell disease”, 2016). Although sickle cell disease
In the continent Africa, about 1 in 100 individuals develops this disease. We ask ourselves why is the frequency of a potentially fatal disease so much higher in Africa? The answer is related to another deadly disease, which is called malaria. Chills, fever, vomiting, and severe headaches characterize malaria (GENETICS Sickle Cell Case Study. (n.d.). 2000, October 19). Malaria is caused by a disgusting parasite called Plasmodium that is transmitted to humans by mosquitos. When the malaria parasites invade the bloodstream, the red blood cells that contain defective hemoglobin get sickle cell out and die (Facts About Sickle Cell Disease. 2014, January 16). This helps protect the individual with Sickle Cell Anemia from an infection of malaria. As you can see, this is why a variety of areas in the world has a high rate of malaria, such as
The name of this patient is Davon; he is a five-year-old African-American male whom just moved from Chicago. The patient was visiting his pediatrician for a physical to enter kindergarten. The patient mother gave her history about confirming that she has the sickle cell trait and would like to know if her son is also a carrier for sickle cell. ("Sickle Cell Disease", 2015) “Sickle cell trait inherited from both hemoglobin A and S, in the red blood cells”. Those with this disease are still capable of having a healthy life. For instance, if one parent has sickle cell trait, and the other parent does not will only lead to the child having sickle cell trait or nothing. If both parents have the trait, then the child will genetically develop sickle cell disease inside the mother’s womb. Sickle cell trait is a transmitted disease that travels through the red blood cells. The symptoms of sickle cell trait is that when the skin gets pale, always cold, or even tired then that is a sign of having this disease. The patient cannot prevent this disease, due to this is something that is passed on from the womb and birth. Daily doses of penicillin can control the infection; on the other hand, it is not preventable. The only way to make sure that it does not get worse is the person must eat foods with high iron and even
During a short break of solitude from studying, I explored and came across that the environment in which most African Americans reside in has a high occurrence of malaria virus. The malaria virus disease is contagious and when it contaminates someone with sickle cell traits, it cannot survive on the external part of the human body so therefore the individual doesn’t develop the deadly malaria virus. While looking further into our class textbook on Human Genetics 11th Edition by Ricki Lewis, and this issue of sickle-cell among the African Americans, I
Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder that affects hemoglobin (pronounced: hee-muh-glow-bin), a protein found in red blood cells that helps carry oxygen throughout the body.
Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disorder that makes your body produce red blood cells that are abnormal in shape. This disease is also widely known as hemoglobin SS disease. Unlike normal red blood cells, sickle cells are rigid and tenacious. Due to their shape and rigidness, they can block blood flow. In turn, this could cause organ damage to the body. Sickle cells are also fragile and die very easily due to the fact sickle cells have a lifespan of twenty days instead of the normal one hundred and twenty days for normal red blood cells.This causes the body to have a lower blood cell count, hence the name anemia in sickle cell anemia.
Sickle cell was first discovered by Dr. Ernest irons that was a hospital intern who look over a patients cell which seem to be different he called them “sickle cell shaped”. Sickle cell is know as a negro inherited diseases which is incorrect not only African Americans have this diseases. Many other races are effect by this diseases and regions all over the world such as India, Mediterranean countries, South American. In this case sickle disease work kind of like vaccination for malaria another diseases, this is the most common inherited disease in American. Anyone who has sickle trait and have a baby with someone who has the trait also can bring a baby into the world the world with SCD.
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease of red blood cells. Normally red blood cells contain a protein called hemoglobin A, which carries oxygen to all the organs in the body. With sickle cell anemia, however, the body makes a different kind of protein, called hemoglobin S.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease where the red blood cells in the body are produced abnormally by bone marrow as crescent shaped red blood cells. Unlike normal red blood cells, sickle shaped cells are unable to deliver much oxygen to other parts of the body due to the abnormal hemoglobin. Sickle cell’s are stiff and sticky and tend to clump together between blood vessels that can cause pain, damage to the organs, and infections. If a child inherits this disease they can be healthy throughout their life or need special care. “In the United States, SCD is most common among blacks and Hispanics. SCD affects about 1 in 500 black births and about 1 in 36,000 Hispanic births in this country. SCD is also common among people with family from Africa, the Caribbean, Greece, India, Italy, Malta, Sardinia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey or South or Central America (March of Dimes)”.
Having an inherited disease like sickle cell anemia takes a life-long of treatments and preventions of complications that comes with being diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. Many people have lived a long time while dealing with the disease because of the on-going care being provided to keep patients as healthy as possible. Knowing that both male and female have the sickle cell trait can prevent having a child with the sickle cell disease. From the help of the parents, doctors and medicine, sickle cell patients don’t have to deal with the pressure of living with a life threatening disease.
Sickle cell anemia is the most common in hemoglobin mutation diseases due to mutation to beta-blobin gene. The substitution of valine for glutamate at position 6 of the beta chains paces a nonpolar residue on the outside of hemoglobin S. the oxygen affinity and allosteric properties of hemoglubin are virtually unaffected by this changes. However, this alternation markedly reduces the solubility of the deoxygenated but not the oxygenated form of hemoglobin. Thus, sicking occurs when there is a high concentration of the deoxygenated form of hemoglobin.
Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited blood disorder that is extremely challenging to live with. Its symptoms are many, with the most prominent being severe pain that can become unbearable to the point where hospitalization is required. Because sickle cell is a genetic disorder, a person is born with it and it is usually permanent. Unfortunately, there are risks and complications associated with this disease. However there are various treatment options for a patient with sickle cell and also support to help people understand and cope with this challenging disease.