8/15/08

What causes thalassemia?


Thalassemia is caused by variant or missing genes that affect how the body makes hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. People with thalassemia make less hemoglobin and fewer circulating red blood cells than normal. The result is mild or severe anemia.


Many possible combinations of variant genes cause the various types of thalassemia. Thalassemia is always inherited (passed from parents to children). People with moderate to severe forms of thalassemia received variant genes from both parents. A person who inherits a thalassemia gene or genes from one parent and normal genes from the other parent is a carrier (thalassemia trait). Carriers often have no signs of illness other than mild anemia, but they can pass the variant genes on to their children.


Hemoglobin includes two kinds of protein chains called alpha globin chains and beta globin chains. If the problem is with the alpha globin part of hemoglobin, the disorder is alpha thalassemia. If the problem is with the beta globin part, it is called beta thalassemia. There are both mild and severe forms of alpha and beta thalassemia. Severe beta thalassemia is often called Cooleys anemia

3 comments:

  1. Hi, thanks for information. I have low amount of hemoglobin and now it's getting worse, I haven't any idea that there are two kinds of protein. But what I wanted to ask, do you know any common vitamins for anemia? I mean something what will keep you going after you had medicine, to not make it worse.

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  2. The Causes of thalassemia is always genetic. It is an inherited disease. Either or both the parents are the carriers of the disease. Those who are carriers of Thalassemia often have only one parent who has the disease and the other parent is normal. These people often suffer from anemia, but do not suffer from Thalassemia. However, these genes are passed on to their children.

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