What is Sickle Cell Anaemia

Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which your body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. The cells are shaped like a crescent or sickle and break down prematurely, which can lead to anemia. Anemia can cause shortness of breath, fatigue, and delayed growth and development in children. The rapid breakdown of red blood cells may also cause yellowing of the eyes and skin, which are signs of jaundice. Painful episodes can occur when sickle-shaped red blood cells, which are stiff and inflexible, get stuck in small blood vessels. 

 

These episodes deprive tissues and organs of oxygen-rich blood and can lead to organ damage, especially in the lungs, kidneys, spleen and brain. A particularly serious complications of sickle cell anaemia is stroke & high blood pressure in the blood vessels that supply the lungs (pulmonary hypertension). Pulmonary hypertension occurs in about one-third of people with sickle cell anaemia and can lead to heart failure.

 

A genetic problem causes sickle cell anaemia. People with the disease are born with two sickle cell genes, one from each parent. If you only have one sickle cell gene, it's called sickle cell trait. About 1 in 7 Ugandans  carry the sickle cell trait, 1 in 125 have the disease. People with sickle cell trait don't have sickle cell disease or exhibit any signs of the disorder, but they can pass the gene for the disease to their children. With each pregnancy, two people with sickle cell traits have:

 

•  A 25 percent chance of having an unaffected child with normal hemoglobin

•  A 50 percent chance of having a child who also is a carrier

•  A 25 percent chance of having a child with sickle cell anemia

 

A blood test can show if you have the trait or anaemia

 

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