Sickle cell anemia is an incurable blood disorder, which is inherited. It is not contagious.

Why is it called sickle cell anemia?

It is called sickle cell anemia because the red blood cells of the patient with this disorder lose their normal round shape and tend to twist into long thin shapes which, when curved, have a "sickle" shape.

Sickle cell trait is often confused with sickle cell anemia. In sickle cell trait, both normal and sickle hemoglobin are present in the same red cells. Such a person is not sick, but he or she can pass the sickle cell gene on to his or her children.

What are the chances that parents with sickle cell trait will pass it on to their children?

The chances are two in four that each child of a man and a woman who both have the trait will have the trait just like his or her parents; and one in four that the child will have neither the trait nor the anemia.

Normal cells flow through small blood vessels with relative ease. Sickled cells, however, are hard like particles of wood, and tend to jam up in small blood vessels thereby stopping or impeding the flow of blood. The second difference is that sickled cells do no live as long as normal cells. Normal cells can be expected to live for about three months. Sickled cells live less than sixty days. Since the body cannot manufacture new cells as fast as sickled cells break down, the patient has fewer red cells and less hemoglobin than normal. An anemic condition is the result of this process.

At the present time there is no proven cure for the genetic disorder, but several sources are working on remedies that relieve patients in crisis.