Trusted Resources: Evidence & Education
Scientific literature and patient education texts
Sickle Cell Disease
source: eMedicineHealth
year: 2022
authors: John R. Krimm
summary/abstract:Sickle cell disease is the most common of the hereditary blood disorders. It occurs almost exclusively among black Americans and black Africans. Sickle cell disease in black Americans occurs in about 1 in 500 live births.
The first account of what was then called sickle cell anemia in the medical literature was in 1910. James B. Herrick, a Chicago physician, described the symptoms of a 20-year-old black male student from the West Indies. The man had reported “shortness of breath, palpitations, and episodes of icterus [yellow eyes]. He had an anemia.” Dr. Herrick described the patient’s blood smear as showing “thin, sickle-shaped and crescent-shaped red cells.”
Red blood cells deliver oxygen to working or active tissues. In the lungs, hemoglobin (the molecule in the red blood cell) takes on oxygen and, at the same time, releases carbon dioxide. This process is called oxygenation. At the tissue level, this activity is reversed. The same hemoglobin molecule releases oxygen and takes on carbon dioxide. This process is called deoxygenation.
read more
Related Content
-
How Is Sickle Cell Disease Diagnosed?People who do not know whether they make...
-
Stigmatization of Sickle Cell Disease – Selina Olwenda-Chairperson Children Sickle Cell Foundationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...
-
Acute Care Utilization at End of Life in Sickle Cell Disease: Highlighting the Need for a Palliative ApproachBackground: People with sickle cell dis...
-
Sickle cell trait may not increase the risk of deathPeople who carry a gene for sickle cell ...
-
Malaria-Driven Sickle Cell Trait Selection – Evidence for Modern Day Human Evolution?Sickle cell disease poses a serious heal...
-
The neglected and forgotten Sickle Cell Disease – A silent mass killer in Kenyahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...
-
5 Facts You Should Know About Sickle Cell Diseasehttps://www.onescdvoice.com/wp-content/u...
To improve your experience on this site, we use cookies. This includes cookies essential for the basic functioning of our website, cookies for analytics purposes, and cookies enabling us to personalize site content. By clicking on 'Accept' or any content on this site, you agree that cookies can be placed. You may adjust your browser's cookie settings to suit your preferences. More Information
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.