Following the announcement made by doctors at the University of Ibadan and their United States (US) counterparts on Wednesday, October 28th 2015, regarding the discovery of a permanent cure for sickle cell anaemia, medical experts haveadvised Nigerians to embrace the cure.
Senior registrar, paediatrics department, Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Bida, Dr. Olagbegi gave the advise during an interview with this reporter in Bida, Niger State.
“People should also be aware that preparations and processes will be required to have a successful transplantation. The need to look for a person or a close relative whose genotype AA is significant, because some red blood cells will be removed from the bone marrow of the donor and implanted into therecipient. The moment this is done, the patient’s body will take the graft and it will start producing normal red blood cells”, he said. Explaining the challenges involved in the procedure, the paediatrician said that it entails looking for a donor that matches with the recipient’s red blood cells and this will involve a lot of genetic typing.
The pediatrician decried the low level of awareness on gentotype particularly in some rural communities adding, “when you ask someone about
his genotype, he responds by saying he is 0 positive. In other words, he is telling you his blood group, instead of his genotype. Because they don’t
know their genotype, they can’t protect themselves from this devastating disease”.
He advised parents to know the genotype of their wards so that they can be detected early and protected if they have sickle cell anemia. He said
some precautions to carry out when sickle cell is discovered include: Proper hydration, proper nutrition, provision of extra immunization, prevention
from mosquito bites such as providing them mosquito nets and daily anti malaria drugs since malaria can be very devastating on them.
Explaining the treatment, a medical officer with the accident and emergency department, Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Bida, Dr. Oludare Alagbe said the permanent cure, although expensive, has been well researched, tested and approved by the International Medical Board.
He advised medical experts to harness contemporary training on sickle cell anaemia so that they can grasp the concurrent skills in medicine. Mison is a HND 2 student of the Department Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic Bida.
By: Samuel David Mison
Daily Trust News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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