Awareness about thalassemia in post graduate students

Abstract

Inherited hemoglobinopathies are basically thalassemia syndromes that occur due to decreased or absent formation of normal hemoglobin. Abnormal globin gene in thalassemia describes its type. Patients who have defective alpha globin genes suffer from alpha thalassemia and patients who have defective beta globin genes suffer from beta thalassemia. There are clinical presentations which varied widely in thalassemia patients, the severity range from asymptomatic to severe anemia in which blood transfusions are needed for lifetime and in multiple organ system many complications occur.1 Alpha thalassemia has been prevailed in India, Africa and South East Africa. Beta thalassaemia has been spread in many areas of Middle East, Mediterranean, in Southern China, in South, Central and South East Asia. The carriers of alpha thalassemia are 5% and of beta thalassemia is 1.5% all over the world. Genotypes of alpha and beta thalassaemia are highly prevalent in those regions which are infected with Plasmodium falciparum. This leads to a theory that evolutionary protection mechanism is represented by thalassemia gene mutation. The populations which are at risk to thalassemia are migrating towards non-endemic areas and increasing the rate of thalassemia gene mutations all over the world.2