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If a person has sickle cell disease, it is present at birth. But most newborns do not have any problems from the disease until they are about 5 or 6 months of age. The symptoms of sickle cell disease can vary from person to person and can change over time. Over time, you may experience symptoms depending on how sickle cell disease affects your health.

A blood and bone marrow transplant is currently the only cure for some patients who have sickle cell disease. After early diagnosis, your doctor may recommend medicines or transfusions to manage complications, including chronic pain. Babies who have sickle cell disease may see a hematologist, a doctor who specializes in blood diseases such as sickle cell disease.

Sickle Cell Disease – Screening and Prevention People who do not know whether they carry an abnormal hemoglobin gene can ask their doctor to have their blood tested. Sickle Cell Anemia, Hemoglobin S or SS disease, Sickling disorder due to hemoglobin S

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease caused by defects, called mutations, in the beta globin gene that helps make hemoglobin.

In all types of sickle cell disease, at least one of the two abnormal genes causes a person’s body to make hemoglobin S. When a person has two hemoglobin S genes (hemoglobin SS), the disease is called sickle cell anemia. This is the most common and often most severe type of sickle cell disease. Hemoglobin SC disease and hemoglobin S? thalassemia are two other common types of sickle cell disease. Hemoglobin SD and hemoglobin SE are much less common.