Which is essential in the prevention of thalassemia
What is Thalassemia
Thalassemia is an anemia that runs in families. It is not a contagious disease or a malignancy of the blood. Hemoglobin synthesis is aberrant due to genetic abnormalities, causing red blood cells to break down early. Anemia is the outcome.
There are several forms of thalassemia.
There are three forms of thalassemia clinically. Major is the most intense and complicated variety. There is a ‘middle’ or ‘intermediate’ stage. Minor symptoms are modest once again. It is possible to live a nearly regular life in this situation.
According to the type of deficiency, there are several varieties of thalassemia. Hemoglobin E Disease, Alpha Thalassemia, S Beta Thalassemia, Hemoglobin S Disease, Hemoglobin D Punjab, Hemoglobin D Arab, and more.
Thalassemia carriers and thalassemia patients are not one. The carrier does not have any symptoms, nor does it require any treatment. However, a carrier is capable of carrying the disease to the next generation.
Why is thalassemia
If both parents are carriers of thalassemia, the child is at risk of developing thalassemia.
The human body has 23 pairs or 48 chromosomes. Half of each pair comes from the mother and the other half from the father. Chromosome 16 contains the alpha gene and chromosome 11 contains the beta gene. The alpha and beta genes make proteins called alpha and beta globin, which are a combination of many amino acids. If the alpha or beta genes of chromosome 18 or 11 are not born properly to produce amino acids, then the protein called alpha or beta globin is defective. If the alpha or beta globin chain is defective, then hemoglobin is also defective. The average lifespan of a normal human red blood cell is 120 days but the average lifespan of a red blood cell in a thalassemia patient is only 20 to 60 days due to defective globin. When immature, red blood cells break down, leading to anemia.
How to understand
Carriers of thalassemia grow from childhood to normal. It may be that his problem is never caught in life. So there is no way to know if someone is a carrier of thalassemia. Mild anemia can be diagnosed by examining the cause of anemia during pregnancy or during surgery.
However, thalassemia patients begin to fade from the age of six months, gradually jaundice occurs. The spleen and liver of the stomach become enlarged. The body does not grow properly. In addition, there may be more complications. Thalassemia major is therefore caught in childhood.
What is the treatment?
Usually a thalassemia patient needs to take 1 to 2 bags of blood per month for anemia. Frequent blood transfusions and increased absorption of iron from the digestive tract increase iron levels in the body. As a result, various complications occur in various organs and glands including liver and heart. Without proper treatment and regular blood transfusion, thalassemia patients may die. Therefore, the side effects of blood donation also need proper treatment. Iron chelation is needed to prevent excessive accumulation of iron.
Treatment of a thalassemia patient can be quite expensive at every cost, including blood transfusions and iron-lowering drugs.
It is possible to keep a thalassemia patient healthy for a long time if it is treated properly with regular blood under the supervision of a hematologist. But the most effective and correct treatment is bone marrow transplant. For various reasons, it is not possible for everyone to take this treatment.
Advice
Carriers of thalassemia are no longer the food of thalassemia patients. There is no harm in eating thalassemia carriers like normal people. There are no restrictions on iron-rich foods, but if you are deficient in iron, you should eat more iron-rich foods.
However, thalassemia patients need to eat less iron-rich foods and, if necessary, take iron-reducing drugs, which are expensive. However, if there is an iron deficiency for any reason, you must give iron-like food and medicine. That is according to the advice of a specialist doctor.
To do
1. To discourage marriage between two carriers. A healthy person can marry anyone (carrier or patient). Because, their child is not at risk of getting sick. However, one carrier cannot marry another carrier. Because, the child is at risk of getting sick.
2. If both thalassemia carriers are married or both husband and wife are carriers of thalassemia, it is possible to diagnose the condition of the baby by taking a chorionic villus sample or amniocentesis within 6 to 14 weeks of conception. If the fetus has thalassemia, counseling should be done so that a new thalassemia patient is not born. However, if the fetus carries thalassemia, there is no problem in normal birth.
So before marriage, everyone should know through blood test whether they are carriers of thalassemia or not. Thalassemia can be prevented only if the marriage between the two thalassemia carriers is stopped.