Inheritance Pattern for WHAT SHOULD A PERSON WITH E TRAIT DO? Hemoglobin E Trait Hemoglobin In planning a family, it is wise for one to ask their partner to be tested. The testing should include, at minimum, a When one parent has E Trait (AE) and the other has hemoglobin eletrophoresis and a mean corpuscular volume. beta thalassemia trait E Trait (AE) Only if both partners are tested can they know exactly what kind of hemoglobin their children could have. They should look carefully at the inheritance pattern for the possibilities their baby of having a child with E/beta thalassemia. may have o A counselor can tell you if any of your future children could A E A have a form of sickle cell disease.
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Contact your local SCDAA organization or other health A A agency at:
AA (normal hemoglobin) or
A E Or contact the SCDAA National Office at the address and telephone number below. AE (hemoglobin E Trait) or
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o A
o A (beta-zero thalassemia trait) or Register at www.getconnectedscd.com
Sickle Cell Disease o E Association of America, Inc. 3700 Koppers Street, Suite 570 Baltimore, MD 21227 YOUR QUESTIONS o E (E/beta-zero thalassemia, a serious blood disease) www.sicklecelldisease.org It does not matter what their other babies have, their next ANSWERED o o ©2018 Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.; All rights reserved. No one has the same four possibilities: AA, AE, or A or E . portion of this material can be published without the owner’s express written consent. I want to learn more...
HEMOGLOBIN E TRAIT- WHAT DOES THAT WHAT EXACTLY IS HEMOGLOBIN? DOES HEMOGLOBIN E TRAIT EVER MAKE A REALLY MEAN? Hemoglobin is inside the red blood cells. It helps them PERSON SICK? A person with hemoglobin E trait makes the usual carry oxygen from the air in our lungs to all parts of the No. Hemoglobin E trait, "E trait" for short, is not an illness. hemoglobin called A and another hemoglobin called E in his body. Hemoglobin also gives blood its deep red color. People with E trait are healthy. red blood cells. Put the two together in a red blood cell and
you have hemoglobin E trait: A and E = AE. WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT HEMOGLOBIN E? YOU SAY E TRAIT IS NOT A PROBLEM. THEN Many Southeast Asians and Indians have E trait. It is common WHY ARE PEOPLE TESTED? in Asians. Less often, it is found in people of Middle Eastern, Hemoglobin E acts differently than hemoglobin A. Red Mediterranean or African descent. blood cells with mostly hemoglobin E do not make Babies are tested to see if they have a blood disease, such enough hemoglobin. This makes them a little smaller in as E/beta thalassemia or hemoglobin E disease, that could size than normal and also causes anemia, or low blood make them become ill. Teens and adults are tested mainly count. to see if they can have a baby with such a disease. A person with E trait, AE, does not have enough hemoglobin E in his red blood cells to cause anemia. WHAT IS E/BETA THALASSEMIA? HOW DOES A PERSON GET E/BETA E/beta thalassemia is a disease of red blood cells. People with E/beta thalassemia do not make enough hemoglobin in THALASSEMIA? their red blood cells. This results in severe anemia, or low blood count. If a person gets one E gene from one parent and one beta thalassemia gene from the other parent, he would have E/beta thalassemia: WHAT IS HEMOGLOBIN E DISEASE? HOW DOES A PERSON GET E TRAIT?
Also called EE, hemoglobin E disease is a disease of red A person gets or inherits E trait the same way he got the blood cells. People with EE make slightly less than normal color of his eyes, the shape of his nose and the texture of his E + beta thalassemia = E/beta thalassemia hemoglobin in their red blood cells. They have mild anemia. hair. He got it through the genes that his mother and father passed on to him. Genes also tell the body what kind of blood to make. E/beta thalassemia is a serious condition. People who CAN HEMOGLOBIN E TRAIT EVER TURN INTO have it need special medical care. E/BETA THALASSEMIA OR EE? He got an abnormal gene for hemoglobin E from one of his parents and the for hemoglobin A from the *Never. A person's hemoglobin types are his for life. They normal genes CAN A PERSON GET TWO E GENES? other. do not change. Yes. A person who gets one E gene from one parent and a second E gene from the other has EE. This is not as IF SOMEONE HAS E TRAIT, CAN HE HAVE A WHY IS IT CALLED TRAIT? common as SC. is a common word for a condition where a person gets CHILD WITH E/BETA THALASSEMIA OR EE?? Trait EE is not a serious condition. However, a person an abnormal gene from one parent and the normal type of with EE may need special medical care sometimes. Yes. He can, but only if his partner has beta thalassemia trait that gene from the other parent. If he gets the abnormal or E trait. gene from both parents, he is said to have the disease. *E trait is found equally in both males and females. To make this easy to read, we have used he, his, and him in this pamphlet. In other pamphlets we have used she and her.