Sickle cell anaemia increasing, officials say

Medical researchers in the Republic of Congo say that 30 percent of people in the country have the sickle cell trait, a proportion higher than previously thought. Previously, between 20 percent and 25 percent of the population in this country were thought to have the trait. "The increase is alarming," Elira Dokekias, the head of the Department of Haematology and Internal Medicine at Brazzaville University, told IRIN on Saturday. He led a study at the end of 2004 in which thousands of people in the capital city Brazzaville and the commercial city of Point-Noire were tested. Sickle cell anaemia is a blood disorder characterised by joint pain, fever, leg ulcers and jaundice. It is not contagious; and is inherited when both parents carry the gene that causes it. The minister of health and population, Alphonse Gando, said on Saturday that the government, with the support of the UN World Health Organization and NGOs, planned to launch a campaign in June to fight the disease. He said the government would create a database of people who were infected and treatment centres. Dokekias said treatment increased life expectancy but the medicines were expensive and not readily available in the country. "Around half of the people who do not get treatment die before they reach the age of 25," he said.