Sickle-Cell Disease Spreads
The Denver Post
March 10, 2008
The percentage of sickle-cell carriers who are Latino has jumped from 10 percent to 32 percent in the last 20 years, causing medical centers to adjust how they look for and treat the disease. Nineteen-month-old Adrian Perez-Vaoeriano receives monthly blood transfusions as part of his treatment at the Sickle Cell Center at Children's. Laura Cole, sickle cell nurse coordinator at Children's Hospital Colorado, explained that Adrian was rushed to Children's shortly after turning one so doctors could perform a transfusion to remove the sickle-cell clogged blood from his spleen.
To get sickle-cell disease, a person must inherit two mutated genes — one from each parent. When two people who each carry the gene have a child, the chance is 25 percent that the baby will have sickle-cell disease. Newborn screens in every state now tell parents if their child is a carrier.
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