Today marks World Sickle Cell Day.

And while celebrities such as TLC front woman T-Boz, football player Tiki Barbar, rapper Prodigy from Mobb Deep, and actor Larenz Tate all suffer from sickle cell, not too many people are sure what exactly the disease is.

Sickle cell is an inherited disease in which the red blood cells in your body are shaped in sickles with jagged edges as opposed to smooth ovals or discs. Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body.

According to Pub Health Med, when the sickle-cell shaped cells are weak, they deliver less oxygen to the body?s tissues. These cells also can get stuck in the tiny blood vessels, breaking into little pieces and decreasing the amount of oxygen getting delivered.

Symptoms usually appear in babies between 4 months and 1 year old. People with sickle cell may experience extremely painful episodes, called crises, which can last from hours to days. Some people with sickle cell have these episodes every few years or every year. Sometimes these episodes can be so severe they force someone to be hospitalized.

Other symptoms include the following:
—Fatigue
—Paleness
—Rapid heart rate
—Shortness of breath
—Yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)
—Stroke
—Death
—Swelling of hands and feet
—Bacterial infections
—Leg ulcers
—Eye Damage
—Lung and heart injury

It is estimated that between 90 to 100,000 Americans are living with sickle-cell anemia, many of them African-American and people of color. One out of every 500 Black babies is born with sickle cell one in 12 African-Americans are carriers of the sickle-cell anemia gene.


According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, there is treatment for sickle cell that aims at relieving pain and preventing infections, organ damage and strokes. Some people may receive blood and marrow stem cell transplants in hopes for a cure, but this only works for a few people who suffer from sickle cell. As of now, for most people living with sickle cell, there is no cure.

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is the most frequent genetic disease worldwide. It is present on four continents: in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Maghrib, in Asia (Middle-East, Arabic peninsula, India), in the Americas, on the North (USA), centre (Guatemala, Caribbean islands), and on the South (Brazil,Surinam, Guiana), in Southern Europe (Southern Italy and Sicily, Greece, Turkey). It is estimated that 500.000 are born every year with this severe and invalidating condition and that 50% of them will die before the age of 5 years. Trans-continental, SCD is also trans-ethnic and affects black populations from African origin and Arabic, Indian and Caucasian populations from Southern Europe.

Through advocacy of the Sickle Cell Disease International Organisation (SCDIO), the support of the Republic of Congo and the Republic of Senegal, and the commitment in the scientific world, the African Union (in 2005), the UNESCO (2005), WHO (2006), and the United Nations (2008) recognized sickle cell disease as a public health priority. The 19 of June, has been chosen to celebrate every year the World Sickle Cell Day in order to raise awareness of the disease in the world.

Facts about SCD: