Chapter 10, Problem 8.4P

Summary Introduction

To draw: The Punnet square illustrating the possible outcomes of a pregnant woman with sickle cell trait and a man who has sickle cell anemia to find out the probability of any future child for this couple to have sickle cell anemia.

Introduction: Sickle cell anemia is an inherited autosomal recessive disorder. It is a type of hemolytic anemia that leads to increased destruction of red blood cells (RBC) causing drastic reduction of hemoglobin content in the blood. In this anemia, the erythrocytes are sickle-shaped instead of normal biconcave structure and the hemoglobin of this abnormal RBC is called hemoglobin S (HbS). Sickle cells rupture and die easily due to its fragile nature. The normal red blood cells live up to 120 days in blood circulation, but the sickle-shaped RBC dies in 10–20 days.