Sickle Cell Disease vs. the California Stem Cell Agency: Disease-a-week Challenge #19

Imagine: inside the veins of an African-American child, red blood cells: round and soft, doing their job, keeping the person alive. What would happen if those cells hardened and changed shape, curving into the letter "C", like a wheat-cutting sickle? First, the capillaries would clog, in what Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) doctors call a "crisis". Excruciating agony, like broken glass in the veins, a crisis may last an hour or a day, and the pain is just the beginning. "By twenty years of age, about 15% of children with SCD suffer major strokes...by 40 years of age, almost half have central nervous system damage ... cognitive dysfunction (mental problems) ... damage to lungs and kidneys.... frequent hospitalizations... (and face the likelihood of) early death..." Why does this nightmare condition single out African-Americans? The carrier state for SCD may be a defense against malaria, common to sub-Saharan Africa, but the defense is worse than the disease. Poverty makes things worse: African-Americans are almost three times more likely than whites to be poor, and accordingly lack decent medical insurance: Without medical advice, SCD sufferers may not even know even the most basic care: like the vital importance of drinking lots of water to stay well-hydrated. The more water a person drinks, the less likely it is that their abnormal blood cells will clog the capillaries. "Another effective treatment is a medication called hydroxyurea, which reduces crises by 50% and death ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news