The many faces of Sickle Cell Anaemia & Thalassaemia
How Sickle Cell is Acquired - Inheritance
As we've become more knowledgeable about sickle cell anaemia we've discovered that it is not infectious but rather genetic. In other words you can't get sickle cell from exposure to a toxin, infection, virus, or parasite. People with sickle cell are born with the disease. It is inherited when parents pass it on to their children.
Claire Thompson, health education officer for the Sickle Cell Society, said: "The increasing number of mixed race relationships means that the disorder is moving across into the white population, who do not know they are carriers. This is leading to an increased prevalence of both carriers and people suffering from the disorder." Ms Thompson said there was no national screening programme. "It has been seen as a black issue but increasingly white people are carriers."
Claire Thompson, health education officer for the Sickle Cell Society (article independent.co.uk)
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