Thalassemia Test

Since Thalassemia Test is covered under ING, I went to the clinic to get myself one. Hip hip hurrah to find out that I am free from Thalassemia. I am now waiting for my fiance's result (eventhough I know he hasn't gone the test yet).

What is Thalassemia?

Thalassemia describes a group of inherited disorders characterized by reduced or absent amounts of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein inside the red blood cells. There are two basic groups of thalassemia disorders: alpha thalassemia and beta thalassemia. These conditions cause varying degrees of anemia, which can range from insignificant to life threatening.

What are the different kinds of Thalassemia
There are three clinically significant types: Thalassemia minor, Thalassemia intermedia, and Thalassemia major.

Thalassemia minor, also called Thalassemia trait may cause no symptoms, but changes in the blood do occur. A person with Thalassemia minor generally has no health problems excepting a possible mild anemia, which cannot be corrected with iron supplements.

Thalassemia intermedia, also called mild Cooley’s anemia is an intermediate form of the disease. Thalassemia intermedia is a clinical condition that varies and must be constantly evaluated by the hematologist. No two people with Thalassemia intermedia are the same.

Thalassemia major, also called Mediterranean anemia or Cooley’s anemia, named after the doctor who first described it in 1925) is the most severe form. Thalassemia major is very serious and requires extensive medical care.
How do people get Thalassemia?

Thalassemia is an inherited disease, which means it is passed on from parents to their child through their genes. It is nor infectious and cannot be “caught” like a cold. It will not develop later in life, nor can a child outgrow it. Both parents must have Thalassemia trait in order to pass the disease on to their child, but it only takes one parent to pass trait on to his/her child. Thalassemia trait will never develop into disease. Thalassemia trait can be passed on for many generations without being detected before a child is born with disease. The probabilities to get Thalassemia exist for each child independently of what happened with prior children the couple may have had. In other words, each new child has a one-in-four chance of having severe Thalassemia. The inheritance of Thalassemia genes is purely a matter of chance and cannot be altered. For example if a thalassemic married a normal, all the children will be healthy carriers. They must inherit a Thalassemia gene from their thalassemic parent, but they must also inherit a normal gene from the normal parent, so none of them can possibly haveThalassemia major. (Figure1).

Figure 2 shows that if a thalassemic marries a Thalassemia carrier, in each pregnancy there is a 50% chance that the child will be thalassemic, and a 50% chance that it will be a healthy carrier.
Figure 2
Figure 3 shows that if one thalassemic marries another, all their children will be thalassemics. This situation arises sometimes too, because Thalassemia carriers have so much in common, that they usually decide not to have any children or to try to have children with medical help, for example, by artificial insemination (using semen from a man who is not a carrier).