Sickle Cell Case Study

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What is Sickle cell disease? Sickle cell affects a disease; that disease is called which affects the hemoglobin when the red blood cells that send oxygen through the body are killed off and weakened. Sickle cells can be found in every 1 and 1000 African Americans, it is affecting about 70,000 to 80,000 Americans in the United States. Sickle cell is a death threatening disease, and the severity of symptoms can vary from person to person (Sickle cell disease (SCD), 2015). Some people have light conditions, but others can have severe conditions, which, mean they could be hospitalized. Characteristics of this disease are caused by a minimum of low blood cells, which is called anemia. Symptoms of a sickle cell are shortness of breath or fatigue and delayed growth in the development of children. Severe pain can be caused as a symptom when the blood gets stopped up in the vessel and causes the patient 's heart to pump slower, so people begin to feel pain in the body and feel out of breath. …show more content…

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

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