Surprising Facts About Sickle Cell Anemia

Life Expectancy Has Improved

Only twenty years ago, children who suffered from sickle cell anemia rarely lived to become adults. Thankfully, however, this is no longer the case. With advancements in healthcare and medical research, the life expectancy of those with sickle cell disease has increased greatly from twenty years ago. However, though the life expectancy has improved, it is still much shorter than the average healthy individual in the developed world at forty to fifty years old versus at least eighty years for a healthy person. This increase in life expectancy is mostly the result of medicines such as penicillin, which help this condition greatly during the patient’s childhood.

The good news for some with this condition, however, is there is indeed a cure. Continue reading to discover the details.

There Is A Cure For It

Sickle cell anemia does not need to be a death sentence for those who have it. Not only is it entirely treatable and feasible to manage the symptoms effectively, but there is also a cure for this condition. A bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant, depending on the source, is a successful cure for sickle cell disease. However, this success stems from siblings of the patient who are genetic matches. Rarely do exact genetic matches come up on the public donor registry. Donors are typically used in clinical trials for the condition.

Although a bone marrow transplant is currently the only significant option, research is being done into how gene therapy might help cure sickle cell anemia. So far, experts indicate gene therapy looks promising as a future option for a sickle cell cure.

Continue reading to discover what many find surprising regarding how this condition develops.