To prioritize laboratory testing in babies with the sickle cell disease, doctors should be the ones who should decide on testing algorithms by analyzing new ways to cure the disease such as gene therapy and stem cell treatments. Sickle cell is a genetic disease of the blood. It is passed down through mutated genes from each of the parents and both usually do not have the disease and are just carriers. An abnormal type of hemoglobin S, which misshapes the red blood cell, causes the disease. The sickle cell disease most commonly occurs in blacks and Hispanics. Sickle cell disease or SCD is a disease where the red blood cells have an irregular shape. Instead of being round and having a circular shape, they are shaped like a sickle and look like
…show more content…
Through having experiences with a friend who has sickle cell anemia, one can know how serious the disease really is. Her name is Alyssamae and she used to go in and out of the hospital for long periods of time and would not attend school for weeks or even months. Sometimes she wouldn’t be able to participate in a physical activity because of the sickle cell. When Alyssamae would play tag in the schoolyard, she would easily get shortness of breath and fatigue. A child who was only 9 years old at the time did not realize that her shortness of breath and fatigue was caused by the sickle cell disease, but that child realizes it now. She had developed anemia from the sickle cell disease, causing her to have fatigue, become very weak, have dizziness, cold hands and feet, and headaches. Fortunately, Alyssamae has received good care from her hospital visits and that was because of the medical team. Unfortunately doctors could not cure her sickle cell because there is no definite cure that is guaranteed to work. There are some experimental medicines and treatments that have cured some cases of sickle cell, but scientists have not come up with something to permanently get rid of it. That is why doctors are the most important people to contact when the treatment of this disease is needed. They know the most about the current advances made in medical sciences. There is also no prevention of sickle cell since it is inherited through at least one parent and can be caused through gene
Through having experiences with a friend who has sickle cell anemia, one can know how serious the disease really is. Her name is Alyssamae and she used to go in and out of the hospital for long periods of time and would not attend school for weeks or even months. Sometimes she wouldn’t be able to participate in a physical activity because of the sickle cell. When Alyssamae would play tag in the schoolyard, she would easily get shortness of breath and fatigue. A child who was only 9 years old at the time did not realize that her shortness of breath and fatigue was caused by the sickle cell disease, but that child realizes it now. She had developed anemia from the sickle cell disease, causing her to have fatigue, become very weak, have dizziness, cold hands and feet, and headaches. Fortunately, Alyssamae has received good care from her hospital visits and that was because of the medical team. Unfortunately doctors could not cure her sickle cell because there is no definite cure that is guaranteed to work. There are some experimental medicines and treatments that have cured some cases of sickle cell, but scientists have not come up with something to permanently get rid of it. That is why doctors are the most important people to contact when the treatment of this disease is needed. They know the most about the current advances made in medical sciences. There is also no prevention of sickle cell since it is inherited through at least one parent and can be caused through gene