What is the sickle cell trait?
It is the carrier state for sickle cell disease when a person inherits one HbS gene from one parent and a normal HbA gene from the other. It is important to know that someone with the sickle cell trait may pass the gene on to their children. If two people with the trait have children, there is a 1 in 4 chance at each pregnancy that the child will inherit sickle cell disease. The sickle cell trait has only 20-40% sickle haemoglobin but not enough to cause complications.
