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sickle cell disease
any of a group of diseases associated with the presence of erythrocytes with hemoglobin S, including sickle cell anemia, sickle cell–thalassemia disease, hemoglobin SC disease, and hemoglobin SD disease. They are found most often in those of black African descent, but they also occur in persons of Mediterranean (Southern European
and North African), Middle Eastern, or Asian Indian ancestry. Nine out of ten persons with the gene are heterozygous for it, simply carriers of the sickle cell trait and usually without symptoms. Only a small minority are homozygous for hemoglobin S and actually have symptoms.
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