World Sickle Cell Day

It’s World Sickle Cell Day! What does that mean exactly? Well, a sickle cell is “an abnormal red blood cell that has a crescent shape and an abnormal form of hemoglobin.”

Still confused? Let’s see… basically sickle cells cause sickle-cell disease. This occurs due to an abnormality in the hemoglobin (“the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red blood cells of all vertebrates, as well as the tissues of some invertebrates”), which can result in “various acute and chronic complications, several of which have a high mortality rate.” Apparently, ¾ of the cases of sickle-cell disease occur in Africa, but is found globally. The first inclination of sickle-cell disease dates back to 1910, when cardiologist James B. Herrick and intern Ernest Edward Irons discovered abnormal cells in the blood of a 20-year-old dental student in Chicago. Verne Mason deemed the term “sickle-cell disease” in 1922. The discovery of this disease has now been though to have around since the 1670s, where a condition report indicated that a Ghanaian family displaced symptoms similar to sickle-cell disease.

Hopefully that gives you a better understanding. Click here to vote on today’s poll!