A large scale survey of haemoglobinopathies and thalassaemia has been carried out in China, involving 900,000 people in 28 provinces. It has resulted in the finding of many new variants and some interesting cases of thalassaemia, and in a study on the chemical structure of abnormal haemoglobins and DNA analysis of thalassaemia. We report here data on haemoglobin disorders in the Chinese, mainly...

Medical History Twenty patients (36%) had a splenectomy. Fourteen (25%) patients had developed gallstones and 7 had a cholecystectomy performed. Other medical complications of disease and iron overload are summarised in Table 1. In addition, 21 out of the 55 patients had a MRI T2* of the heart and liver performed. None had iron loading in the heart. Twenty (98%) patients had evidence of iron lo...

Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia may occur during the course of influenza A infection2 and if this occurs it may pose a major problem for people with thalassaemia. In France, annual influenza vaccination is recommended and free of charge for children with chronic disease, including thalassaemia.3 In countries where thalassaemia is endemic, such as Thailand, it is also recommended that all people w...

An investigation of the reliability of screening tests for beta thalassaemia trait in pregnant women was carried out as part of a programme to predict beta thalassaemia major in the fetus. Women with a mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of less than 83fl were examined further, and the reliability of various red cell indices as screening tests was assessed and compared. Over three years 696 women wer...

The activities of erythrocyte antioxidative enzymes were measured in two groups of patients with different genotypes of haemoglobin (Hb) H disease: 21 with alpha-thalassaemia 1 or alpha-thalassaemia 2 (alpha-thalassaemia 1/2) and 21 with alpha-thalassaemia 1/Hb Constant Spring (HbCS). They were compared with 21 normal subjects. Both genotypes of Hb H disease had increased activities of erythroc...

BACKGROUND Red cell microcytosis is a common abnormality detected in a full blood count, which often prompts clinicians to investigate further for a cause. In the absence of iron deficiency and anaemia of chronic disease, the differential diagnosis includes β-thalassaemia trait and α-thalassaemia trait. METHODS We investigated the contribution of α-thalassaemia trait in South African subjects...

One thousand consecutive Brunei Darussalam patients referred with low Hb, and/or low MCV and MCH (Hb < 12.5g/dl, MCV < 76fl, MCH < 27pg) were studied in the laboratory for underlying haemoglobinopathies. 30.0% of such patients were proved to have either beta-thalassaemia trait, beta-thalassaemia major, Hb AE, Hb EE, Hb E beta-thalassaemia or Hb H disease. In some, the haemoglobin abnormality wa...

UNLABELLED Contaxt: Every year in India 6000 to 8000 children are born with thalassaemia major. The birth of such a child produces considerable physical and economic strain on the affected child, its family and the community at large. Thus, the emphasis must shift from the treatment to the prevention of such births in the future. AIMS To find out the prevalence of the Beta Thalassaemia trait ...

Transfusion dependent thalassaemia is a significant problem in Sri Lanka. In a study published in 2000, it was estimated that there were approximately 2000 transfusion dependent beta thalassaemia and HbE patients in Sri Lanka and the expenditure on them accounted for approximately 5% of the recurrent health budget of the country [1]. This number has by and large remained static over the past de...

We find interventions targeting serodiscordant couples (SDC) may not be feasible in countries where HIV prevalence is less than 5%, because only 3-19/1000 individuals are HIV-positive/negative and in SDC. Interventions may be feasible in countries where prevalence is greater than 10%, because 34-48/1000 individuals are HIV-positive/negative and in SDC. We calculated that 20-27% of all HIV-posit...