Symptoms of sickle cell anemia can begin as early as six months of age, and can manifest anemia, severe pain, infections of the blood, lungs, or bones and stroke. Persons with the gene may pass it on to their children. Sickle cell disease affects more than 80,000 people nationwide. It is found in 1 in 400 African-Americans in the United States. Blood donors play a vital role in the treatment of sickle cell disease.
Treatment can involve blood transfusions.
With repeated transfusions, the body can come to see the proteins, or antigens, present in donated blood as foreign bodies. If a patient with sickle cell disease can be transfused with closely matched antigens that are often found in the minority population, there is a decreased chance of rejection. The Mid-Atlantic Region is devoted to the awareness, education and recruitment of blood donors from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The Department of Community Affairs and Development is solely dedicated to that mission. Through special educational programs and recruitment efforts, this department has made great strides in increasing the number of minority blood donors throughout Virginia and North Carolina.