What are the chances of getting thalassemia?
1 in 2 chance each child you have will be a carrier of thalassaemia, but will not have the condition themselves. 1 in 4 chance each child you have will be born with thalassaemia.
How do I know if I have thalassemia?
Doctors diagnose thalassemias using blood tests, including a complete blood count (CBC) and special hemoglobin tests.
- A CBC measures the amount of hemoglobin and the different kinds of blood cells, such as red blood cells, in a sample of blood.
- Hemoglobin tests measure the types of hemoglobin in a blood sample.
Who are the people most affected by thalassemia?
Prevalence and Demographics: Worldwide. Thalassemia occurs across the globe, but is most prevalent among the following populations: Italians. Greeks. Cypriots, Sardinians (Mediterranean region) Southeast Asians (Vietnamese, Laotians, Thais, Singaporeans, Filipinos, Cambodians, Malaysians, Burmese, and Indonesians)
How is thalassemia passed on from one parent to another?
Thalassemia is an inherited gene mutation. It is passed on from one or both parents. The type of thalassemia you have depends on which mutated genes you inherit from your parents, and how many genes you inherit. Alpha thalassemia: Involves 4 genes (you get 2 of these genes from your mother and 2 of these genes from your father).
How many genes does it take to get thalassemia?
A child who inherits two thalassemia trait genes – one from each parent – will have the disease. A child of two carriers has a 25 percent chance of receiving two trait genes and developing the disease, and a 50 percent chance of being a thalassemia trait carrier.
Is there such a thing as beta thalassemia?
Individuals who have beta thalassemia trait have one normal beta globin gene and one that is altered such that it makes little or no beta globin. There are subtypes of alpha thalassemia trait. Individuals with ‘silent alpha thalassemia trait’ are missing one alpha globin gene.
What percent of the world has thalassemia?
Quote The most common genetic blood disease in the world, thalassemia affects some 7 percent of the world’s population worldwide. In certain Indian communities like Assamese , Bengali, Gujarati , Maharashtrian, Marwari and Punjabi , as high as 25% of the population are silent carriers of a defective Thalassemia gene…
What portion of human population is affected by thalassemia?
Thalassemia: an inherited form of anemia caused by faulty synthesis of hemoglobin. Thalassemia is listed as a “rare disease” by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Thalassemia, or a subtype of Thalassemia, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
What is the difference between thalassemia minor and major?
Thalassemia minor is a mild form of the disease in which the patient inherits only one mutated gene and act as a carrier. Thalassemia major is a severe form of the disease that can cause serious illness. Thalassemia is a group of genetic blood disorders that is characterized by destruction of red blood cells and hemoglobin higher than normal.
What are the causes of thalassemia?
The causes of thalassemia are: Inheriting abnormal and mutated genes involved in the hemoglobin production from parents. If one of your parents is a carrier for thalassemia, you may also become a carrier of the disorder yourself, though you will not have any sign and symptoms.