June 19 Is World Sickle Cell Day: Get the Facts

How much do you really know about this blood disorder?

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The 411 on Sickle Cell - June 19 is World Sickle Cell Day. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a serious genetic disease that is especially prevalent among African-Americans. Yet, how much do you really know about this inherited blood disorder? —Kellee Terrell(Photo: Courtesy African American Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Registry for Sickle Cell Disease Awareness)

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What Is Sickle Cell Disease? - SCD is an inherited disease in which the red blood cells in your body are shaped in sickles with jagged edges as opposed to smooth ovals or discs. People with SCD have red blood cells that contain mostly hemoglobin S, an abnormal type of hemoglobin. The most common form of SCD is sickle cell anemia. (Photo: Getty Images) 

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What Are the Complications? - SCD can have some devastating symptoms including pain, swelling, numbness, tingling or redness of the hands or feet. It can also cause infections, lung issues, bone deterioration, asthma, hypertension, gallstones, stroke and even death. The symptoms can be mild for some and severe for others.(Photo: Blend Images/Getty Images)

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How Do You Treat It? - Depending on the severity of the illness, treatment can be a combination of antibiotics, pain management, intravenous fluids, blood transfusion and surgery. Droxia — a cancer drug — has been approved to treat sickle cell in adults. It helps reduce severe pain, acute chest syndrome and the need for blood transfusions in adult patients.  (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Iron Overload and SCD - While blood transfusions are a common form of treatment that can help people with SCD, this extra blood introduces more iron in the body. This is especially the case for those who have had 10 or more transfusions. Excess iron just does not go away on its own and can linger in the body. It can build up causing damage to the heart, liver and other organs. (photo: GettyImages) 

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How Do You Know You Have SCD? - It’s required that every hospital in the U.S. test newborns for the disease. This type of routine testing has helped decrease the death rates of children with SCD by 45 percent over the past years.  (Photo: Blend/Getty Images)

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How Do You Know You Have SCD? - It’s required that every hospital in the U.S. test newborns for the disease. This type of routine testing has helped decrease the death rates of children with SCD by 45 percent over the past years.  (Photo: Blend/Getty Images)

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African-Americans and Sickle Cell - While we don’t really have an exact number, the CDC estimates that there are 90,000 to 100,000 Americans living with sickle cell anemia, with many of them being African-Americans and other people of color such as Latinos and Middle Easterners. One out of every 500 Black babies is born with sickle cell and one in 12 African-Americans are carriers of the sickle cell anemia gene. (photo: GettyImages)  

My Hair Can Grow Longer During Pregnancy – FACT - If you’re pregnant or have been, you may have found that your hair felt fuller during your pregnancy although your hair isn’t actually growing faster. Instead, you were simply losing it at a slower rate than usual. During the resting phase of hair growth, your hair naturally sheds. During pregnancy women experience higher estrogen levels, which prolong the hair’s growth phase resulting in less shedding.  (Photo: Monika Bender/Getty Images)

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Sickle Cell and Genetics - In order for you to have sickle cell, both of your parents must have the gene. If they do, with each pregnancy there is a 25 percent chance of having a baby with SCD. There is also a 25 percent chance of their child not having sickle cell and not being a carrier. But there is a 50 percent chance of having a baby who is a carrier with sickle cell trait, but doesn't have SCD.  Photo: Monika Bender/Getty Images)

What Is Bone Marrow Disease? - Bone marrow is the soft tissue found in some bones, including your hip and thigh bones. It contains stems cells, which can develop into the red blood cells that carry oxygen through your body, the white blood cells that fight infections and the platelets that help with blood clotting, the National Institute of Health writes. Bone marrow disease is the result of problems with the stem cells or how they develop and can be onset by your genetic makeup or environmental factors. (Photo: Ed Reschke/Getty Images)

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Is There a Cure? - Yes, but it’s complicated. For a rare few, around 25 people including an African-American woman in Chicago in 2012, have received a blood marrow transplant in hopes of being cured from SCD. And so far around 85 percent of those people have been successful in ridding themselves of the disease. (photo: GettyImages)