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Sickle Cell Anemia

Key Stage 4

Meaning

Sickle Cell Anemia is an inherited disorder which causes the formation of sickle shaped red blood cells.

About Sickle Cell Anemia

The red blood cells are sickle shaped in Sickle Cell Anemia which causes them to become stuck in capillaries.
Sickle Cell Anemia is caused by a recessive allele and can be passed from parent to offspring.
PunnettSquareSickle.png
In this Punnett Square the Sickle Cell Anemia recessive allele is represented with a lower case 's' while the healthy variant of the allele is dominant and shown with a capital 'S'. This shows how two heterozygous parents who do not have symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia may carry the disease and pass it on to their offspring. This shows there is a 25% chance of a child inheriting Sickle Cell Anemia.

Symptoms of Sickle Cell Anemia

People with Sickle Cell Anemia can have problems with the circulation in their limbs due to capillaries becoming blocked by sickle shaped red blood cells.
Sickle Cell Anemia can also cause feelings of tiredness and fatigue in the muscles as oxygen cannot be transported to the cells that need them.

References

AQA

Sickle cell anemia, page 117, GCSE Biology; Student Book, Collins, AQA

OCR

Sickle cell anaemia, page 162, Gateway GCSE Biology, Oxford, OCR

Beyond the Curriculum