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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Health / When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn't Enough (beware) (621 Views)
Why You Should Know Your Genotype Before Considering Getting Married / Things You Must Know About The As Ac Sc Ss And Cc Genotype / When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn’t Enough (2) (3) (4)
When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn't Enough (beware) by muyeskin(m): 7:49am On Jul 21, 2015 |
The concerned mother was frantic. Her son who
has sickle cell disorder had developed priapism –
an abnormal and often painful persistent erection
of the penis – which happens to be one of the
many complications sickle cell patients encounter
as they battle the disorder.
Being a medical emergency, the worried mother
was advised to take her son to the hospital
without further delay; else, the engorged tissues
might die and this might affect her son’s virility
if he survives the ordeal.
If this unnamed mother is lucky to still have her
child alive, the Dickson-Ibekwes are not; they
lost their daughter, Angela, an undergraduate
student of Economics at Bells University of
Technology, Sango Ota, Ogun State, to the
complications of sickle-cell disease about five
years ago.
This is a small glimpse into the world of SCD,
where affected families virtually engage in daily
battles to keep their affected children alive.
Dr. Kunle Adedayo explains that SCD is a genetic
disease. Those who have it inherit two genes for
sickle haemoglobin – one from each parent.
He says, “Sickle haemoglobin causes red blood
cells to develop a sickle, or crescent, shape.
Sickle cells are stiff and sticky. They tend to
block blood flow in the blood vessels of the limbs
and organs. Blocked blood flow can cause pain
and organ damage. It can also raise the risk for
infection.”
Experts say in sickle cell patients, crises are a
given, as the abnormal red blood cells can
sometimes clog sections of blood vessels,
leading to episodes of pain, which can be severe.
“These episodes, a.k.a vaso-occlusive crisis, are
generally known as sickle cell crisis,” they say.
Adedayo says while normal cells are regularly
replaced in healthy people, among sickle cell
patients, abnormal blood cells have a shorter
life-span and are not replaced as quickly as
normal cells.
“This leads to a shortage of red blood cells
(anaemia), with the attendant tiredness and
breathlessness, especially after any physical
exertion. Worse, patients may sometimes need
blood transfusion to curtail the anaemia,” the
physician explains.
Adedayo points out that normal red blood cells
move easily through the blood vessels, taking
oxygen to every part of the body. “But sickled
cells can get stuck and block blood vessels,
which stops the oxygen from getting through.
This can cause a lot of pain in the hands, feet,
belly, back and chest, which may last for hours
or days. The crisis can also harm organs,
muscles, and bones,” he notes.
Physicians warn that the potential complications
of sickle cell anaemia include stroke, acute chest
syndrome – where the lungs suddenly lose their
ability to take in oxygen, often as a result of
infection; increased vulnerability to infection; and
pulmonary hypertension – where the blood
pressure inside the blood vessels that run from
the heart to the lungs becomes dangerously
high.
Physicians warn that anything could trigger
crisis in a sickle cell patient, and these include
cold temperatures, wind, dehydration, and too
much exercise. “Again, when sickle cell patients
are exposed to low oxygen as a result of
cigarette smoke, or if they are exposed to high
altitude like mountain climbing or air travels,
they can develop vaso-occlusive crisis,” Adedayo
warns.
He also discloses that though doctors are not
able to predict which symptoms a child born
with sickle cell disease will have, when they will
start, or how serious they will be, once
diagnosed via a simple blood test, the patient
must be placed on antibiotics from two months
of age till age five in order to prevent infection.
“This is in addition to taking the routine
childhood immunisations,” Adedayo counsels.
G uard against having a ‘sickler’
Many Nigerians don’t know their genotype, while
some confuse it with blood group; but knowing
one’s genotype is very necessary if couples –
especially those preparing for marriage – must
save themselves and their offspring from a
lifetime of pain.
Sickle cell disease is inherited, which means it is
passed from parents to children as part of their
genetic make-up. Parents cannot give SCD to
their children unless they both have the faulty
hemoglobin in their red blood cells.
“To get SCD, a child has to inherit two sickle cell
genes – one from each parent. When a child
inherits the (sickle cell) gene from just one
parent, that child has sickle cell trait, which
means he does not have the disease but he is a
‘carrier’ and could pass it on to his children,”
Adedayo explains.
“Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder in which
the body produces an abnormal type of the
oxygen-carrying substance, hemoglobin, in the
red blood cells. Normal hemoglobin is called
hemoglobin A, but people with sickle cell disease
have only hemoglobin S, which turns normal,
round red blood cells into abnormally curved
(sickle) shapes.
“Normally, a person inherits two genes (one from
each parent) that produce beta-globin, a protein
needed to produce normal hemoglobin
(hemoglobin A). A person with sickle cell trait
inherits one normal beta-globin gene
(hemoglobin A) and one defective gene
(hemoglobin S) – what is medically referred to
as AS.”
Doctors say people with sickle cell trait rarely
have health issues because they also have some
normal hemoglobin; but they can pass the sickle
cell gene to their children.
In other words, when two people who have sickle
cell traits (AS) marry, they can produce a child
with hemoglobin S – SS, a.k.a, child with sickle
cell disease.
“Both parents must have either the sickle cell
trait or the disease itself for a child to have
sickle cell disease,” Adedayo says.
The ugly numbers
Here’s the frightening statistics: If you and your
partner both have sickle cell trait (AS), your child
has a 25 per cent chance of being born with
sickle cell disorder (SS). If only one of you has
sickle cell trait (AS), your child cannot be SS,
but there is a 50 per cent chance that your child
will be AS.
If one parent is SS and one parent is AS, there is
a 50 per cent chance that their children will be
SS.
Doctors therefore advise intending couples to
know their genotypes and forgo relationships
that can lead to the birth of a child with this
painful disorder. Source: Punch |
Re: When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn't Enough (beware) by Nobody: 7:50am On Jul 21, 2015 |
Abi 1 Like |
Re: When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn't Enough (beware) by Mynd44: 8:03am On Jul 21, 2015 |
There are too many ways which they can marry and avoid having children that are not SS. Wait, is it even compulsory to have biological children? |
Re: When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn't Enough (beware) by Nobody: 8:17am On Jul 21, 2015 |
I did sentence, paragraphing and punctuation far back as primary 4 What happened to our schools? |
Re: When It Comes To Genotype, Love Isn't Enough (beware) by badaoyeyemi(f): 8:56am On Jul 21, 2015 |
they will nau be saying love is blind...whereas they re d one DAT is blind |
(1) (Reply)
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