Fighting Sickle Cell

You may be wondering what might have happened to me during the long silence since I last made a posting.

Well, the answer is simple. I had been so gripped by FIFA World Cup events in South Africa that just about everything else was blown out of orbit. And shortly afterwards, I followed that up with a real visit to Africa, this time to Accra in Ghana. However, this is not relaxation as watching the World Cup had been. Here there are no vuvuzellas to lift the spirit when faced with the repeated disappointment as  time after time, the team one was supporting faced and suffered elimination. Interestingly though, even after three days, I can see no signs of Ghanaians pining over what might have been. They seem to have picked themselves right up and, judging by the choked streets of Accra, life has returned to business as usual. And usual business includes hosting major international conferences.

The conference I am attending is the First ever Global Congress on Sickle Cell Disease. As many of you might know, sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that has a high prevalence among people of Africa descent. As some of you might also know, sickle cell disease is one of the so-called neglected tropical diseases and this congress was designed to raise awareness of the disease and to foster networks among people interested in improving the lot of patients affected by its devastating consequences. Interested persons include doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, sociologists and priests up to and including an archbishop. The year 2010 is also of signal importance in sickle cell disease, because it marks the centenary anniversary since the first case known to modern medicine was described in western medical literature. But it was also an occasion to reflect that this was a disease that had been known among African societies since time immemorial. This point was made by Dr Felix Konotey-Ahulu who, during the opening ceremonies, was presented with a distinguished service award for his outstanding contributions to sickle cell disease patient care, research and education.

Today is the first full day of the conference and many important presentations were made about different aspects of sickle cell disease. Although sickle cell anemia has until recently been generally considered to be incurable, new therapies have been rolled out in recent years. The most important of these is treatment for what is one of the most distressing features of the disease, namely intermittent, recurrent attacks of excruciating pain affecting most areas of the body. This treatment consists of daily oral intake of a drug called Hydroxyurea. Many patients taking this drug have enjoyed a marked reduction in the frequency of their pain attacks and have been able to stay away from hospital emergency rooms and hospital admissions. Also, there was increased optimism among patients and caregivers when a researcher from New York reported that patients given a radical treatment consisting of bone marrow transplantation from a matched sibling donor had a greater than 85-90% chance of being completely cured of sickle cell disease.

Good news indeed and there is bound to be more which I will tell you about in my next posting.

Tell Fren Tru