Science Fair Essay

Sickle Cell, the cell with a crescent moon like shape that helps cause severe pain by clogging itself within your blood vessels and the worst thing...theirs really nothing you can do about it...yet. Doctors are working on cures for this disease everyday but let’s get more into the sickle cell disease. Sickle Cell Anemia also called sickle cell disease is caused by abnormal hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein (helps in many processes of our body, growth, movement, etc.) containing iron (a chemical element) and is found in red blood cells. The hemoglobin is crucial in the red blood cells ability to carry oxygen. The abnormal hemoglobin is called hemoglobin S, and because of the abnormality makes the red blood cell curve to resemble a sickle like shape. These sickle cells die prematurely and have a tendency to stick to each other and block blood vessels which is why sickle cell anemia has some symptoms associated with the disruption of blood flow. But sickle cells can only kill you if not diagnosed at birth.
Sickle Cell Anemia is a hereditary or genetic disease which means it is not contagious and can only be passed down genetically. So the only way you can get sickle cell Anemia is if both of your parents have hemoglobin S. If one of your parents has sickle cell anemia and the other does not have sickle cell anemia you’ll get sickle cell trait. People with sickle cell trait have no symptoms of sickle cell Anemia and are more immune to malaria than people without the trait. Malaria which is a major disease in Africa spread by the mosquitoes that have the disease and spread it on to humans. Only certain manifestations have been seen with people with sickle cell trait.
Symptoms related to sickle cell anemia are anemia, pain crises’, enlarged spleen and infections, delayed growth, stroke, acute chest syndrome, and blindness. Some symptoms appear in the first and second years of life but for others start to appear when they become adults. People with sickle cell anemia have to have more eye checkups than normal people to prevent blindness. And also are most of the times sick or bedridden. Anemia is often associated with the disease which is why it is also called sickle cell anemia. Anemia is the shortage of red blood cells; this is usually due to the premature deaths of sickle cells. People with the shortage of red blood cells usually do not get enough oxygen to their lungs which cause shortness of breath and other lung symptoms. Usually people with smoking have problems with their lungs also.
Their is no yet known cure for Sickle Cell Anemia but one of the treatments, Bone Marrow Transplant can be used as a cure, but it only used with severe cases of the disease. Bone Marrow Transplant can especially cure young children. The reason why people do not use Bone Marrow Transplant very often is because the procedure is very risky and it is often difficult to find the right donors for the transplant. It is basically the transplant of a bone marrow of a healthy individual with the bone marrow of a person with Sickle Cell Anemia.
Treatments that are currently being improved and studied are gene therapy, butyric acid, clotrimazole, nitric acid, and hydroxyurea. Gene Therapy is also being used for other things but is a major possibility for the cure of Sickle Cell Anemia. Gene therapy is the process of replacing bad genes with good genes. Genes is a short word for genetic and is what makes you, you. The genes you inherit from your two parents make you look similar to your parents due to a biologic process that takes place. Genes were discovered in the 1800’s by Gregor Mendel an Austrian monk, while experimenting in his garden with peas. But to make it short your parents genes basically work together to make up your inherited traits. As I said before gene therapy is still an experimental tool. Butyric acid on the other hand is an acid found commonly in food that may increase fetal hemoglobin according to studies. Clotirimazole is a prescribed medication that usually is used for fungal infections but can also prevent the loss of h20 which would reduce the sickle cell count. Nitric Oxide is a gas that helps keep blood vessels (veins, capillaries etc.) open, and reduces the stickiness of red blood cells. People with sickle cell anemia do not have high levels of nitric oxide so using it as a treatment may prevent the sickle cells from forming. In my opinion using nitric oxide with clotirimazole would be a good idea for the cure of sickle cell anemia. Hydroyurea is a tasteless drug that can lessen the frequency of pain crises’ and blood transfusions for the victim with sickle cell anemia.
Prevention for sickle cell anemia is almost inexistent since it’s a genetic disease, genetic screening can possibly prevent it, and so can early diagnoses at birth. But even though early diagnosis can increase the lifespan of the person greatly there is no real prevention for the disease.
The risk for disease in America is mostly high in African-Americans but also common in Latinos. 1 out of 12 African Americans have sickle cell anemia, and for Latinos 1 in every 1,000 to 1,400 Latinos babies are diagnosed with the disease. But in America alone 70,000 people have sickle cell anemia. In other parts of the world it is mostly among people of a Central African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian heritage. But that doesn’t mean Whites don’t have it in America or other places in the world either. In 1929 two American doctors found several cases of sickle cell anemia in a Greek-American family in 1929. At that time this proved that not only black had the disease and that blacks were also not unhealthy compared to Caucasians.
In the long run you can’t avoid the disease because it’s hereditary but the future for the cure for Sickle Cell Anemia looks good. Due to the fact that gene therapy is being improved every day, for instance a couple days ago I saw on CBS that they were making blind people able to see with the help of gene therapy.