According to an American paediatric physician, about 2 percent of babies born annually in Nigeria have the sickle cell disease; that translates according to him to about 150,000 babies.
About one in every four Nigerians has thee sickle cell trait and if two of them get married ,they have a 25 percent chance of producing a sickler.
The percent in the US is lower, about 0.8 percent of babies born annually are sicklers.
The disease is characterized by repeated bone pains, stroke and chronic anaemia.
However, it can now be cured through bone marrow transplant which has just a 20 percent success rate and quite expensive.
According to the physician, genetic therapy will be available under ten years. WE PRAY IT HAPPENS
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