What are some common hemoglobin variants?
Most people have only one kind of hemoglobin called hemoglobin A. Some people have both hemoglobin A and another kind such as hemoglobin S, C, or E. These less common forms of hemoglobin are called hemoglobin variants. You can have a hemoglobin variant but not know it because you might not have any symptoms of blood disease. Having a variant without symptoms of the disease is also called having the trait or being a carrier. Many people have heard of sickle cell trait, which occurs most often in people of African heritage. Again, having the trait means you inherited a gene for a hemoglobin variant from one parent. Genes carry information about which characteristics are passed down from parents to children. People with sickle cell trait usually have no symptoms. (Inheriting genes from both parents for the variant hemoglobin “S,” however, results in sickle cell disease, which is painful. You would know if you had sickle cell disease.) People of Mediterranean or Southeast Asian heritage al
