Understanding the Risks of Passing on Sickle Cell Anemia: A Guide for Parents
How can I tell if I'll pass on the gene to my child? To have Sickle cell anemia, you must have two copies of the recessive sickle cell allele. But what about those with only one copy? These people are known as carriers. They are said to have sickle cell trait, but not sickle cell anemia. Carriers have one dominant allele and one recessive allele. Remember, the dominant allele usually overrides the recessive one, so carriers generally don't have any symptoms of the condition. But they can still pass the recessive allele on to their children. Here are a few example scenarios to illustrate how this might happen: Scenario 1. Neither parent has the recessive sickle cell allele. None of their children will have sickle cell anemia or be carriers of the recessive allele. Scenario 2. One parent is a carrier while the other isn't. None of their children will have sickle cell anemia. But there is a 50 percent chance that children will be carriers. Scenario 3. Both parents are carriers. There's a 25 percent chance that their children will receive two recessive alleles, causing sickle cell anemia. There's also a 50 percent chance that they will be a carrier. Lastly, there's also a 25 percent chance that their children won't carry the allele at all. Scenario 4. One parent isn't a carrier, but the other has sickle cell anemia. None of their children will have sickle cell anemia, but they'll all be carriers. Scenario 5. One parent is a carrier and the other has sickle cell anemia. There's a 50 percent chance that children will have sickle cell anemia and a 50 percent chance they'll be carriers. Scenario 6. Both parents have sickle cell anemia. All of their children will have sickle cell anemia. For more info please visit www.capsci-uganda.org I Call: 0392150047 I Email: info@capsci-uganda.org
2024-07-02