Mariam Diallo is finally hopeful of finding proper treatment for her child suffering from sickle cell disease, after losing six family members to the terrible condition.
"My son died of pain in front of my eyes, I will never forget it," she told AFP of the inherited blood disease that ravaged her family and many others in Africa where it predominates.
Barriers to Pain Treatment in Children With Sickle Cell Disease
A substantial variation in hydroxyurea utilization for pain and other sickle cell disease complications in children has been found
A substantial variation in hydroxyurea utilization for pain and other sickle cell disease complications in children has been found
One of the most common genetic disorders, sickle cell disease causes blood cells to take the shape of a crescent instead of being smooth and round, thereby blocking blood flow and leading to chronic pain, infections and tissue death.
The disease "mutates the red blood cells. The blood doesn't receive oxygen. Complicated cases can lead to death," Dr Dapa Diallo, director general of the centre told AFP during a tour of the facility.
Ultrasound Helps To Prevent Stroke Among Kids With Sickle Cell Disease
Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have found that screening with an ultrasound machine helps prevent stroke among kids with sickle cell disease.
Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have found that screening with an ultrasound machine helps prevent stroke among kids with sickle cell disease.
"And 50 percent of deaths are recorded before the age of five if there is no medical follow-up," explains military doctor Karim Camara, deputy director general of the centre.
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Bone Marrow Transplantation Safe and Effective to Cure Sickle Cell Disease
A research team led by an Indian origin scientist has pioneered a new form of bone marrow transplantation that can prove safe and effective in curing sickle cell disease.
A research team led by an Indian origin scientist has pioneered a new form of bone marrow transplantation that can prove safe and effective in curing sickle cell disease.
The World Health Organisation said in 2006 that sickle cell disease was "the cause of five percent of deaths of children under five years", a figure which reached 16 percent in some west African nations.
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Scientists Identify Gene Variants That may Help Predict Intensity of Sickle Cell Disease
A new collaborative study by scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has cited the discovery of five
A new collaborative study by scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has cited the discovery of five
"It is a Malian centre, but also a centre for all Africans. They can come and be treated, the doors are always open for them."
Equipped with state of the art equipment, the centre's orange buildings stretch over 5,000 square metres, where clinical research will take place, and specialists will receive training.
"The new equipment is adapted to the complications of the disease," according to French doctor Alain Dorie, the only expatriate permanently employed at the centre.
"Today when a sickle cell disease sufferer goes to a hospital, he is prescribed a blood transfusion and he must just manage. But here, when he has a 'blood crisis', when he arrives we take charge," he said.
According to French haemotologist Gil Tchernia "the purpose of the centre is also to detect the illness from birth. Because if it is detected early, treatment is easy and effective."
Monaco and the French Pierre Fabre Foundation will each donate between 100,000 and 135,000 euros a year until 2012 to the centre which is also financed by Mali.
The 45-year-old teacher Diallo, herself a sufferer of the disease, plans to take her 18-month-old, born with the disease, to the centre for tests next week.
"He has violent headaches, I don't know what he has exactly. It is a terrible disease.
"I am also sick, but thank God, for the moment, I am fine."
Source-AFP
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