Demography




Thalassemia trait is found in all populations, but it is most common in people from the following origins:

 
* Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Thai, Singaporean, Filipino, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma,and Indonesia)
 
* Chinese
 
* East India
 
* African
 
* Middle East
 
* Greek
 
* Italian
 
* Trans Caucasian (Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani)


There are two main types of thalassemia trait: alpha thalassemia and beta thalassemia trait characteristic. Individuals who have beta thalassemia trait have a normal beta globin gene and one such that little or no beta globin change. There are subtypes of alpha thalassemia trait. Individuals with alpha thalassemia silent trait 'lacks an alpha globin genes. When two alpha globin genes are missing, an individual said that alpha thalassemia trait might have. There are two different ways as well. The 'cis' type of alpha thalassemia trait occurs when two genes of the same chromosome missing. This type is most common in those from Southeast Asia, Chinese, or Mediterranean descent. The "trans"-type of alpha thalassemia trait occurs when two genes from different chromosomes is missing. This type is most common in African Americans.

Thalassemia trait is generally not thought to cause health problems, although women with the trait more likely to have anemia of pregnant women develop without the characteristic can be. Obstetricians sometimes treated with folate supplementation. Most types of thalassemia traits cause the red blood cells to be smaller in size than normal, a condition called microcytosis. Sometimes it is incorrectly referred to as "low blood". Since iron deficiency is the most common cause of microcytosis, doctors sometimes mistakenly prescribe iron supplements to individuals with thalassemia trait. Iron supplements for that reason, doctors must rule out thalassemia trait and / or perform laboratory tests to evaluate iron levels. A person with thalassemia trait can also iron deficient, but if he or she is, iron supplements can lead to an excess of body iron. Excess iron can deposit in many parts of the body, causing organ damage in the long term.






The inheritance of thalassemia


The instructions for alpha globin production are present in duplicate, two genes on each chromosome 16 for a total of four. The instructions for beta globin production on chromosome 11, one gene on each chromosome for a total of two.


Half a woman's genetic information in each egg, including one chromosome 11 and chromosome 16. The same applies to the formation of the seed. At fertilization, the total recovery of 46 chromosomes. Which chromosome 11 or 16 are transferred randomly determined. There is nothing a mother or father (or not do) to establish that chromosome, and therefore which allele is transmitted to his or her children.

The recessive inheritance

The thalassemias are a group of recessively inherited conditions. Remember that genes come in pairs. In recessive both members of the pair associated with the condition should be changed, or mutated. This is a difference of a dominant position, only one copy of the gene needs to be changed in order to manifest symptoms.

In recessive conditions, a favorable trait or carrier state exists where an individual has both a normal and a mutated copy of the gene. The term "normal" is a convention to describe only the copy of the gene, an allele is called, which is most often seen in the general population. The normal allele is able to compensate for the missing or altered function of the mutant allele. Therefore, the individual with the characteristic symptoms seen in the disease. It is generally thought that each of us carry 7-8 of these recessive traits that disease if present in a "double dose causes."

It is not uncommon for a person with a recessive disease for the first person in his or her family, the condition to be. Typically, this happens when both parents carry the trait. This is a difference of a dominant inherited condition in which the members of a family in several successive generations are affected.

Some recessive conditions
Attached earlobes
Sickle cell anemia
Cystic fibrosis
Thalassemia

Some dominant conditions
Tongue rolling (try)
Huntington's disease