The only way of contracting this particular disease is to be born with it. The parents must both carry the recessive gene and the child must get the gene from both of them. At risk parents should have blood tests prior to conception if they are concerned about sickle cell anemia prevention.
If both parents carry the genetic trait the risk of producing a child with this disease is about one in four. Many people are not comfortable with these numbers and seek alternative means of conceiving their children. There are a couple of ways to raise the odds of not bringing a sick child into the world they can explore.
There is a method of in-vitro fertilization available that can increase the odds of not passing the genes to your children. The mothers eggs are harvested and fertilized with the man's sperm and then the fertilized egg is tested for the genes prior to implantation in the uterus. This procedure is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis and although very expensive is not one hundred percent successful.
In the first two months of pregnancy another method of detection can be accomplished by tests done on the baby in the womb. Some parents who receive a positive result from this test choose to terminate the pregnancy. The test itself does not harm the child or cause discomfort for the mother.
A small sample of blood taken by your doctor will tell you if there is a danger of passing the disease to your off spring. Genetic counseling is a very good option for anyone who may be a carrier of the hemoglobin S trait. It is good to remember that the trait must be passed to the baby by both parents for the disease to be created.
All states test new born babies for this problem before they leave the hospital. The child usually does not suffer any issues until the third or fourth month it is alive. At this point the doctor will start a regime of weekly penicillin shots to protect him from getting infections. Pneumonia is a common ailment because of a weakened state of their immune system. These shots should continue until they are five or six years of age.
Regular blood transfusions are used to replace red blood cells in children. An issue with this method is a build up of iron in the system that must be corrected for health reasons. When a patient reaches adult hood the drug hydroxyurea is used to increase hemoglobin in red blood cells and decrease some of more serious symptoms of the disease. Starting in childhood the symptoms may include strokes, chronic bone and organ pain and sudden eruptions of pain that can last for extended lengths of time.
The options for prevention of this disease are not many and fairly costly. Other than birth control they are also not completely effective. Potential cures, such as bone marrow transplants and stem cell therapy have low success rates and are still experimental in reality. The treatment plans if started early and followed throughout the victims lifetime have increased the life span of patients by many years and the quality of life can be considered normal to a very large extent.
If both parents carry the genetic trait the risk of producing a child with this disease is about one in four. Many people are not comfortable with these numbers and seek alternative means of conceiving their children. There are a couple of ways to raise the odds of not bringing a sick child into the world they can explore.
There is a method of in-vitro fertilization available that can increase the odds of not passing the genes to your children. The mothers eggs are harvested and fertilized with the man's sperm and then the fertilized egg is tested for the genes prior to implantation in the uterus. This procedure is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis and although very expensive is not one hundred percent successful.
In the first two months of pregnancy another method of detection can be accomplished by tests done on the baby in the womb. Some parents who receive a positive result from this test choose to terminate the pregnancy. The test itself does not harm the child or cause discomfort for the mother.
A small sample of blood taken by your doctor will tell you if there is a danger of passing the disease to your off spring. Genetic counseling is a very good option for anyone who may be a carrier of the hemoglobin S trait. It is good to remember that the trait must be passed to the baby by both parents for the disease to be created.
All states test new born babies for this problem before they leave the hospital. The child usually does not suffer any issues until the third or fourth month it is alive. At this point the doctor will start a regime of weekly penicillin shots to protect him from getting infections. Pneumonia is a common ailment because of a weakened state of their immune system. These shots should continue until they are five or six years of age.
Regular blood transfusions are used to replace red blood cells in children. An issue with this method is a build up of iron in the system that must be corrected for health reasons. When a patient reaches adult hood the drug hydroxyurea is used to increase hemoglobin in red blood cells and decrease some of more serious symptoms of the disease. Starting in childhood the symptoms may include strokes, chronic bone and organ pain and sudden eruptions of pain that can last for extended lengths of time.
The options for prevention of this disease are not many and fairly costly. Other than birth control they are also not completely effective. Potential cures, such as bone marrow transplants and stem cell therapy have low success rates and are still experimental in reality. The treatment plans if started early and followed throughout the victims lifetime have increased the life span of patients by many years and the quality of life can be considered normal to a very large extent.
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