Unless you deeply immersed yourself in a certain situation or by nature, you find yourself in it, you may not truly understand what it takes to handle such inexperienced situation. Perceiving the practical feelings of passing through a certain system is what is being referred to as Experience, you don't inherit or buy it, but you must have a practical feeling of such a system and that is the case of genotype factor, especially if you are AS, AC, or SS and you are leaving in developing countries where the cost of stem cell transplant is high, in this case you will have to consider your genotype each time you meet a new fish out there, often, it is always the first question you will have in mind to ask a new fish before you decide on either to proceed with the relationship or to stop it, especially if age is not on your side.
Genotype Factor
Genotype factor has become one of the parameters to screen a responsible handsome guy or a pious beautiful lady whom one might have wished to spend the rest of one's life with, it might sound weird at times, and one might even get to the extent of blaming scientists for discovering the so called genotype, especially if you have been struggling to get a perfect genotype type that at the same time match your kind of a man or a woman you have been dreaming to spend the rest of your life with.
Genotype factor is not really a disease but a means to determine the hemoglobin gene compositions on the red blood cells. If my secondary level biology has not failed me, the following are the various types of hemoglobin gene present in the red blood cells of human beings: AA, , AS, AC, and SS
Hematologically normal (AA) individuals
Having a genotype with double A (AA) is like being a king or a queen where you can marry that handsome guy or beautiful lady of your choice without having a need to ask your partner of his or her genotype type, if you are with such a lucky genotype, this topic in discussion might not be for you but for others with different genotypes, unless you want to add to your knowledge domain.
hematologically normal (AA) individuals are individuals with nonspecific anemia, they can marry any other types of genotype, be it AS, AC, SS, and even AA. Its combination with the other types of genotype is excellent since it will not produce sickle cell anaemia patient called SS.
The possible combination and their remarks is shown below
AA + AA = AA, AA, AA, AA (Excellent)
AA + AS = AA, AS, AA, AS (Good)
AA + SS = AS, AS, AS, AS (Fair)
AA + AC = AA, AA, AA, AC (Good)
Individual with single cell trait (AS and AC)
AS genotype has a trait of sickle cell, thus, one with such genotype has to be selective when choosing his or her spouse, for instance, AS getting married to someone with AS or AC has 25%(1/4) probability of giving birth to sickle cell anaemia patient at every birth. Like I said earlier, if my secondary level biology has not failed me, the possible combination with their remarks is shown below:
AS + AS = AA, AS, AS, SS, (Very Bad)
AS + AC = AA, AC, AS,SC. (Very Bad also; SC is similar to SS)
If AS individual should marry SS or SC, such a partner has 50% (1/2) of giving birth to sickle cell anaemia patient at every birth, the combination is shown below:
AS + SS = AS, AS, SS, SS, (Bad)
AS + SC = AS, AC, SS, SC, (Bad)
The better option such an individual with AS genotype can go for is to marry someone with AA, this will totally eliminate the chance of having a sickle cell anaemia patient (SS).
AS + AA = AA, AA, AS, AS (Good)
Note: The same can be said of an individual with AC genotype.
Individuals with SC disease (SC), and individuals with sickle cell anemia (SS)
Individuals with both SS and SC genotypes are referred to as sickle cell anaemia patients, such an Individual must also be selective when choosing a spouse, in order to completely avoid producing children of their types, they must make sure they only marry a spouse with AA genotype as the other combinations has a chance of producing SS or SC. The possible combination with their remarks is shown below:
SS + SS = SS, SS, SS, SS (Very Bad)
SS + SC = SS, SC, SS, SC (Very Bad)
SS + AS = AS, SS, AS, SS (Bad)
SS + AA = AS, AS, AS, AS (Fair)
Final Thought!
No doubt having a child with sickle cell anemia is not a thing of joy, it comes with pain, crises, depression, leg ulcer, society stigma, paralysis, stroke and many more, as such, all efforts must be put to avoid marrying a partner that may end up in producing children with sickle cell anemia (SS).
Although, it is not easy to reject a nice proposal that comes with a lot of packages, also the cause of having to stay many years before getting a spouse with genotype compatibility can be painful and cause depression but to hold on till you meet the right man or woman with genotype type that will ensure your combination will produce healthy children is better.
However, the notable cure to sickle cell anemia is found to be costly, especially, to those of us in developing countries where such a cure is not available, stem cell transplant which involves thousands of dollars may be no go area for many people.
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