Sickle cell disease is a chronic and debilitating condition that from birth to death in early adulthood may substantially lower the quality of life for thousands of American families

It is an autosomal recessive blood disorder affecting 70,000–100,000 Americans, the majority of whom are African American or Hispanic.  Most common in people whose families come from Africa, South or Central America, Caribbean islands, Mediterranean countries, India, and Saudi Arabia, sickle cell disease occurs in approximately one out of every 500 African American births and one out of every 11,000 Hispanic American births and 1 in 58,000 Caucasians (NIH, 2007).

In addition to those affected by the disease, approximately 2.5 million people in the United States have sickle cell trait, which occurs when a person inherits one copy of the globin gene.  Symptoms of sickle cell disease include chronic hemolytic anemia, episodes of painful crises, acute chest syndrome, splenic sequestration, asplenia, and stroke to name a few.  Treatment options, both symptomatic and preventative remain limited and include the drug hydroxyurea and blood transfusions.  A bone marrow transplant can offer a cure for sickle cell disease for some patients, but due to a scarcity of matched donors, it is not a cure for everyone.

More information on sickle cell disease:

• https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/sickle-cell-disease
• https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sickle-cell-disease