All babies in England are to be screened for sickle cell blood disorders within two weeks of birth.
The check, carried out as part of the standard “heel-prick test” that looks for other health problems, spots both the full-blown disease and carriers.
Sickle cell is a condition that affects the normal oxygen carrying capacity of red blood cells and ranges in severity.
In England, it affects about 12,500 people and about 240,000 are carriers of the faulty genes that cause it.
In Britain, sickle cell is most common in people of African and Caribbean descent. However, it can affect anyone.
Racial diversity and mixed race marriages also means more people could be carriers but not realise that they are.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 omasbaer // Oct 20, 2006 at 2:40 pm
you think Britain is in bad shape, Canada lets immigrants in with AIDS , ebola, TB and other nice diseases.
2 ishmael // Oct 21, 2006 at 10:14 am
The line “any-one can get it” is not true.prior to the foreign invasion there was no record of this amongst the English nation,it is purely a negro condition, along with thier predisposition to an increased incidence of schizophrenia, exacerbated by thier inability to cope with life in a civilised society.no more hogwash it is a genetic disease found only amongst negroes.
3 Mother Ecclesiastica // Oct 22, 2006 at 4:33 am
Sorry ishmael,
You are not quite correct on that one: I’ve got it. Yes, some where in my line of ancestry we assume there must surely have been some negro (more specifically: Nigger) multi-great grandparents. Too far back in time for any of us to be able to say. Possibly Roman times?
I’m glad that babies are being screened for this, and I would encourage the government to screen any would-be migrants or asylum seekers from anywhere for this disease and any others.
I emmigrated to Australia and have passed it on here. Good luck. This is a very important matter. The health of a nation must be protected.
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