Understanding Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle Cell Disease and How It Is Inheritied * Who Has Sickle Cell Disease and Why * Inside the Red Blood Cell * Possible Effects of Sickle Cell Disease * How to Care for People with Sickle Cell Disease * Planning a Family * Searching for a Cure Although more is known about sickle cell disease than about any other inherited disease, no cure for it exists. It is of enormous biological, social, and historc importance. In America alone, about one in 375 who are of American ancestry is born with sickle cell disease. Since it was first identified in medical literature almost a century ago, its effects have been traced worldwide. This book was written for those who have the disease, their families, the carriers of the sickle cell gene, teachers, care givers, and those who wish to update their information. Included is discussion of the variety of symptoms in both children and adults as well as the emotional aspects of the disease. Of particular interest is a chapter on the care, especially the home care, of those who are affected. Here the reader is made aware of current research, the commitment to finding a cure, and the hope that one ultimately will be devised. Miriam Bloom is a geneticist who has written extensively on health issues for the federal government. A former senior editor for the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute", she is president of SciWrite, an international biomedical writing and editing service.