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Sickle cell anemia was discovered in 1910 when Dr. 

James B. Herrick was treating a man that was 

complaining of pain episodes and symptoms of 

anemia. The doctor was not interested in treating 

his patient, so he had the patient assigned to a 

doctor named Ernest Irons. Dr. Irons drew blood 

from his new patient and looked at it under a 

microscope only to discover that some of the 

patients red blood cells were "sickle-shaped." This 

started the discovery of the sickle cell disease.

After some investigation, Dr. Irons found more 

doctors that had patients with the same symptoms 

as his patient. Furthermore, all the patients had 

the same sickle-shaped cells. Doctors continue to 

investigate and found that the sickness tended to 

be carried by Africans or people with an African 

origin. After a while, the doctors decided that they 

had found a new disease.

As said before, the sickle cell disease is found 

more in African people or people with an African 

inheritance, but other people can still get the 

disease. Boys and girls alike can inherit the 

disease, too. 

Sickle cell disease is a result of a mutated 

chromosome, but a child can inherit sickle cell 

disease by receiving a sickle cell trait from both 

their parents as well. If a parent has a sickle cell 

trait and they carry the disease in their blood but 

doesn't affect them.

If you look at a person with sickle cell disease, you 

might not be able to tell whether they have the disease 

or not. Some people with sickle cell disease have 

jaundice, but others don't, so it depends. Other than 

that, people with sickle cell disease look like any other 

person.

Even though people with sickle cell disease don't need 

a special bed, car, or house, they still must keep 

themselves healthy and out of extreme temperatures. 

If they don't, the effects of the disease worsen. 

Complications caused by the disease can include:

-Growth problems

-Infections 

-Constant pain

-And other medical problems

People with sickle cell disease tend to run into more 

than a few bad medical conditions. They sometimes 

need a blood transfusion or bone marrow transplant to 

help lower the number of sickle cells in their blood. 

Most people have to take pain-relieving medications or 

antibiotics to avoid infections. Hydroxyurea is another 

medicine most sickle cell patients like to take; it helps 

reduce the pain and sometimes even avoiding bone 

marrow transplant for blood transfusions.

People with sickle cell disease can have children, but if 

they want to avoid having a child that will inherit the 

disease they have to find out whether the other parent 

has the disease or sickle cell trait. If both parents 

have the trait or disease, then there's a chance of child 

inherit the disease.

If a parent wants to check and see whether their baby 

has sickle cell disease, then there are tests that can 

help them find out if the baby have the disease before 

they even have a baby. By doing this, the parents will be 

able to prepare for the baby and find the help he or 

she needs before he or she is born.

Currently, scientists have been researching how to cure 

sickle cell disease. So far, there isn't an ultimate cure 

for the disease, but there is a treatment. With a 

combination of medicines and transplants, people with 

sickle cell disease have been able to lead a fairly 

normal life.

1. What chromosome has the directions for sickle cell 

disease?

a. Chromosome 1

b. Chromosome 5

c. Chromosome 11

2. True or false: Sickle cell disease is dominant.

a. False

b. True

3. Is sickle cell disease is a gamete cell or body cell 

disorder?

a. Gamete

b. Body

c. None

4. True or false: Sickle cell disease is contagious.

a. True

b. False

-Sickle cell disease is the most common disease in the 

U.S.

-In the U.S., approximately 100,000 people have the 

disease, 2 million have the trait, and 1,000 babies are 

born with the disease every year.

-Sickle cell disease provides immunity to malaria.

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