Thalassaemia – Thalassaemia is an inherited blood disorder. It is passed on from the parents to their children through the genes, neither infectious nor can be 'caught' like a cold, and will not develop later in life.

But a child born with Thalassaemia cannot be cured even today. Only life can be prolonged with the help of blood transfusion supported by medicines. This is costly and agonizing for the parents, and puts a heavy demand on blood resource.

History of Thalassaemia
The name 'Thalassemia' originates from the Greek word, 'Thalassa' meaning 'the Sea' and 'anaemia' i.e. anaemia occurring near the sea. The word was first used in 1937 and the first description of the disease was found over 5,000 years ago in a valley south of Italy and Greece near the Mediterranean Sea. Thalassaemia was recognized as a clinical entity by Dr. Thomas Cooley and Dr. Pearl Lee in USA, who described five cases in 1925.

It is believed that Alexander the Great brought this disease to India. However, Thalassaemia has a distribution concomitment with areas where malaria is common. It is thought that possessing one of the abnormal genes that gives rise to Thalassaemia provides some protection against malaria.

Inheritance of Thalassaemia
All our features and characteristics are controlled by genes which exist as the basic units of inheritance within our living body cells. These genes are carried by Chromosome – a thread like structure, present in the nucleus of living cells. Each gene has its own place in a particular chromosome and is responsible for a particular characteristic ranging from the colour of the eyes, hair, and to blood groups.

Every cell with the exception of reproductive cells -sperms and ovahas 23 pairs of chromosomes, altogether 46, inheriting one set from each of the parents. Of these, 22 have been given numbers 1-22 and are called 'autosomes, the 23rd pair consists of the sex chromosomes and males one x and one y chromosome.
The sperms and eggs (ova) have only half the number of chromosomes, one of each pair. During fertilization, each parent, therefore, contributes half of each pair in the cells of the resulting embryo.

A new life starts by the union of a male gamete (sperm) and female gamete (egg or ovum). Each chromosome has several active regions called genes carrying the coded message for the synthesis of a particular substance.