Talk:Thalassemia

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Bold text==Semantic US-centrism issue== Little trivial but near the start we get "Thalassemias are particularly associated with Arab-Americans, people of Mediterranean origin, and Asians." I assume that should just read Arabs unless it is particularly an issue with the Arab diaspora in the US as opposed to Arabs elsewhere. 142.167.166.179 (talk) 08:53, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

QUESTION What are the food the you can suggest for those person carrying thalassemia. THANK YOU!!!Tanmichelle (talk) 01:40, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Contents 1 older entries 2 Other thalassemia 3 Survey on Genetic Testing, Policy, and Treatment of Thalassemia 4 Diagnosis 5 Questions 6 YOU MENTIONED LOW IRON LEVELS 7 Comments 8 Lifespan 9 Thalassemias are not automatically hemoglobinopathies 10 Question: is Autosomal Recessive illustration correct? 11 Article of Low importance?

[edit] older entries

Thalassa is classical Greek for sea. Where does the name of this condition come from? --FOo 15:00, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Is it???

The condition was first recognized in people living around the Mediterranean Sea, notably Italy, Greece and Syria. The term thalassemia was first mentioned (according to Oxford Dictionary) in an article by Whipple & Bradford in the American Journal of Disease in Children in 1932. The sentence "For this reason, the term thalassemia may have an appeal" suggests that it may have been used before this article. It's common in countries which have or have had experience with malaria and can be found in people living in central Africa, India and Southeast Asia. It has been recognized more often in USA after the influx of more than one million of Southeast Asian refugees since 1970's. Some people believe that thalassemia spread to Asia through Great Alexander's soldiers intermarriages as he moved East.

Interesting news http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4439828.stm71.193.23.102

[edit] Other thalassemia

I have Delta Thalassemia and came to this page to find out more about it. What makes it different from Alpha or Beta?

Well, it's much rarer. The non-A/B thalassaemias have essentially the same problem as the others (anemia and iron overload) but it depends on the type and on whether someone only has the trait or is actually homozygote. Please carry on looking and bring useful information back to this page. Wikipedia can learn from your experiences. JFW | T@lk 00:32, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

--Marientina 07:08, 10 January 2006 (UTC)The best reference I foundo so far although still a little incomplete is in a pediatrics article in e-medicine http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2229.htm

Delta Thalassemia is extremely rare, because while someone is still a fetus they have an alpha and delta chain, inseatd of an alpha and beta chain. When someone is born the delta chain is replaced by the beta chain and to still have the delta chain is extremely rare and when someone does have it, it is almost 100% likely that they will have thalassemia.

[edit] Survey on Genetic Testing, Policy, and Treatment of Thalassemia

Our research group at the University of British Columbia has developed a survey on issues and policies surrounding genetic testing and treatment, based on the case of Beta-Thalassemia in Cyprus.

You are invited to take our survey at:http://yourviews.ubc.ca?refer=023 (The number at the end of the url marks it as coming from this site; use this plain one if your prefer: http://yourviews.ubc.ca)

We would also like advice on whether it is appropriate to add a link to this survey to the main article. Pdanielson 17:28, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Diagnosis

I have beta thalassaemia minor, I can say with reasonable doubt that it has been asymptomatic and the only reason I was tested and diagnosed with thalassaemia was because my mother has it. Now I can’t remember off hand (I was child/teenager at the time) what testing the doctors did to identify it but I do remember them saying that my blood test showed I was “anemic” (as in generally) and had “low iron levels” I notice these noted here on wiki as symptoms of alpha thalassaemia not beta, wonder if that should be correct as general systems of thalassaemia or not? --BerserkerBen 19:10, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Mild anemia is actually listed as a symptom of beta thalassemia minor already. --WS 19:42, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

yes but what about low iron? --BerserkerBen 22:22, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Iron levels are usually normal. Low iron levels can suggest another cause such as iron deficiency or anemia resulting from chronic disorders. --WS 23:36, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Some carriers are asymptomatic and some are symptomatic. There so many variants of the mutation as many as people and it usually becomes notices in combination with other disorders. It can co-exist with iron deficiency, B12 deficiency etc...It isn't specifically an iron deficiency disorder on its own but in combination with that you have more symptoms. --Marientina 07:17, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Questions

I'm doing a report on thalassemia. A concern I have about this site is: What exactly does thalassemia do to you? I understand that it makes red blood cells vunerable to damage, decreases their weight and volume, but what does this hemoglobin disorder actually do to a patient's life? Oh, and my assignment is due Dec. 20th. but do try to answer anyways. Thanks. -UnregisteredUser787281013

Thalassaemia leads to chronic anemia, which impairs growth and predisposes for other diseases. In addition, both the disease and its treatment (blood transfusion) cause accumulation of iron in the body. This causes liver damage, hormone problems and osteoporosis.

The ideal treatment for severe cases is transplanting bone marrow that produces normal red blood cells. As this carries many risks, the risk has to be outweighed by the benefits for a peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT) to be worthwhile. Additional treatments include regular blood transfusions and iron chelation (i.e. accellerating the elimination of the excess iron in the body).

Thalassaemia was recently reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine[1], but that is rather technical. Drop a line on my talkpage if you need to have more information. JFW | T@lk 21:07, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Hi,

Both my parents have Thalassaemia Minor hence I was born with Thalassaemia Major, I take weekly blood transfusions and also use Desferal/Kelfer for Iron Chelation. I have a personal website with all articles related to this genetic disorder and also have a fourms for discussion. Visit to read my personal story Trials & Tribulations of a Thalassaemic Major

Regards Ashish Vazirani

Hey Ashish, that will be very useful for UnregisteredUser787281013 rather than dry science articles. JFW | T@lk 23:59, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the information, Jdfwolff. I'll check Ashish's site soon. And I really am unregistered; I have a phobia of privacy intrusions. -UnregisteredUser787281013

[edit] YOU MENTIONED LOW IRON LEVELS

i recently went to a doctor for a physical and he mentioned that my red blood cell count was low and suggested that because i consumed a lot or iron rich foods, that it may be Thalassaemia, which people usually mistake with low irons. He mentioned that the red blood cells with certain types of Thalassaemia is actually slightly smaller than a normal persons red blood cell because that blood cell is missing one or two protiens as mentioned in the article; and thus resulting in a smaller blood count. (anon 12/26/05)

I have 2 daughter's ages 6 and 1. Is it ok if i bring them to the doctors to do some test for thelassemia? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tanmichelle (talk • contribs) 01:47, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Comments

poop oesn't mention Thalassemia Minima.[2]

• How about redirects for the short forms, i.e., "alpha thal" and "beta thal"?

-- Robocoder (talk | contribs) 15:39, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lifespan

I've been looking everywhere I can think of, including medical books and libraries and, like I said, everywhere, but nowhere does it say how long a person with Thalassemia lives. Could someone point me in the right direction? Thanks! Katami 01:48, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

It depends; people with Thalassemia minor usually can live normal lives, which I assume means "as long as anyone else". Apparently the life insurance industry thinks so too, because I have it (and disclosed it when I was doing the paperwork), and I'm considered better than a non-smoker in their eyes. Anyway, I've read that people with Thalassemia major, who need frequent blood transfusions, don't live as long (maybe into their 30s if they're lucky) because of complications with the blood transfusions, iron overload, etc.128.152.20.33 22:35, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

All right, thanks! - Katami 00:07, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thalassemias are not automatically hemoglobinopathies

Some have perfectly normal hemoglobins. By strict definition, hemoglobinopathy requires an abnormal hemoglobin, not abnormal amounts of a normal hemoglobin. [3] SBHarris 21:35, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question: is Autosomal Recessive illustration correct?

Forgive my ignorance, but is the genetic illustration correct? It seems to give the impression that autosomal recessivity is sex-linked. The illustration for Sickle-cell would seem to be more appropriate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Autorecessive.svg However, if I have completely misunderstood this, perhaps someone can clarify. 82.46.208.157 (talk) 10:29, 13 January 2008 (UTC)Martin Turner (talk) 10:31, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, both the .jpg and .svg versions are correct. They display male and female children merely for illustrative purposes, but the inheritance pattern is displayed correctly. I actually don't like using the .svg version, though, because the colors in it may look differently when a color-blind person sees the image. --Rcej (talk) 07:54, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Question: I have Thalassemia minor and also my son. My blood count ia 10; however, my son is 8. A doctor has suggested a blood transfusion for him; however, I have heard that Erythropoetin would be better. Help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.244.16.213 (talk) 22:56, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

A doctor?? Get a second opinion. If they disagree, go to a local university center and get a third and forth. Medical opinions are relatively cheap compared with most medical tests. For the cost of one blood transfusion you can get two opinions by experts. SBHarris 03:20, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article of Low importance?

I think its strange for a disease that is the most common inherited disease in humans to be rated low importance. Anyone agree? 82.10.78.130 (talk) 10:57, 6 May 2008 (UTC)