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Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder characterized by an abnormal hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells responsible for carrying oxygen through the body. The condition is passed on from parents to a child only if both parents are carriers of the sickle cell trait.
Normal red blood cells are soft and round, allowing them to easily navigate through the very small blood vessels of the body. In contrast, red blood cells affected by sickle cell disease change shape after delivering their oxygen to body tissues. Instead of being round and soft, they become rigid and "sickle" shaped, causing them to clump together and eventually block blood flow in small blood vessels. Sickled cells can cause complications in nearly every major organ in the body, making it a condition requiring continual medical supervision.
Sickle cell disease primarily affects those of African descent and Hispanics of Caribbean ancestry, but the trait has also been found in those with Middle Eastern, Indian and Latin American heritage. An estimated 72,000 American are affected. The condition is more common a global scale. To date, two million African-Americans, or one in 12, have the sickle cell trait, leading to one out of every 500 African-American births producing an infant with sickle cell disease.
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