The importance of prenatal tests was emphasised by NEIGRIHMS today on the occasion of World Thalassemia Day.
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder characterised by a lower presence of oxygen-carrying protein (haemoglobin) and fewer red blood cells in the body than normal. Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, paleness and slow growth.
Mild forms may not need treatment but severe forms may require blood transfusions or a donor stem-cell transplant.
In India around 4 percent of people carry the genetic trait of the disease and are carriers, NEIGRIHMS said in a press release today. The disease is inherited and transmitted from parents to their children. When both parents happen to be carriers, their children have a 25 percent chance of being born with the disease called thalassemia major.
Half of children of carrier parents may be born as carriers of the disease. Around 10,000 babies are born with thalassemia major every year in India, where, at any given point of time, 1 lakh patients depend on regular blood transfusions.
“Before planning for any pregnancy or if a couple is pregnant, it is important for the couple to get tested for thalassemia. If both parents are diagnosed as carriers, it is important to carry out tests for fetal affection,” NEIGRIHMS said.
The Department of Transfusion Medicine and Blood Centre at NEIGRIHMS has been active over the last 15 years in managing almost all the cases of thalassemia in Meghalaya, where there are 39 known patients, by providing them with blood.