The scientific name for sickle cell anemia is Hemoglobin SS disease (Hb SS). The term sickle cell anemia refers to the peculiar sickle or crescent shape of the red blood cells of affected person.
Occurrence
Sickle cell anemia is a disease occurring among Africans.
Associated Diseases
People who are homozygous for the sickle-cell gene suffer not only from anemia but also from such conditions as kidney damage, spleen enlargement and skin lesions.
Anemia
In heterozygous condition of sickle cell disease, the affected person sometimes suffers from anemia. Thus in the sickle-cell trait, blood of the genotype is heterozygous having both normal and mutant alleles and the hemoglobin consists of a mixture of both kinds.
Differences Between Normal and Sickle Cell Hemoglobin
Sickle cell hemoglobin responds differently to an electric field; normal hemoglobin moves as a negative ion and sickle-cell hemoglobin as a positive ion. Also, normal hemoglobin contains the amino acid "glutamic acid" in certain positions and that a different amino acid called "valine" is found in these positions in sickle-cell hemoglobin.
Immunity Against Malaria
Another point of interest in sickle cell anemia study is that sickle cell trait confers a benefit on its victim in malaria regions giving immunity against the malarial parasites causing malignant malaria. This selection value probably accounts for the high frequency of sickle cell anemia disease in tropical Africa.
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