The National Sickle Cell Centre has called for sustained awareness about the disease and its causes to stem the tide.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigeria has an estimated 150,000 annual birth of sickle cell disease babies.
Mr Yemi Onijala, the Head, National Sickle Cell Centre DNA Laboratory, made the appeal during an interview with NAN on Sunday in Abuja.
Onijala, who is also the Programme Coordinator, Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) in Lagos decried that Nigeria, which has the highest burden of the disease in the world, has less information about the disease.
According to him, this is so because there is no reliable data of people living with sickle cell in Nigeria.
He also said that unlike some diseases that have adequate funding and data, sickle cell has received less attention from the government compared to other diseases.
“At the moment, we have a bill at the National Assembly advocating for sickle cell patients to be treated free but the bill is yet to scale through.
“We have had several meetings with government officials at different levels and we will continue to dialogue with them until someone listens to us,’’ he said.
He also said that the disease was non-communicable because it could only be inherited from parents who were carriers of the trait genes.
Onijala added that two parents with the AS genotype had 25 per cent chance of giving birth to a baby with the disorder.
He, however, said that apart from inadequate awareness, especially at the grassroots about the disease, wrong diagnosis of genotype from different laboratories across the country was also a problem.
“Many people think that they carry the AA genotype and go ahead to marry AS but after their first child turns SS, they realise that they have been misdiagnosed.’’
According to him, the disease can be diagnosed in a child even in pregnancy.
“Prenatal diagnosis can be performed to determine the genotype of an unborn child between 11to 13 weeks of gestation and the result will be out within 72 hours,’’ he disclosed.
He listed some symptoms of the disease to include excessive fatigue or irritability from anaemia fussiness in babies, bedwetting from associated kidney problems and jaundice.
Others are swelling and pain in hands and feet, frequent infections, pain in the chest, back, arms, or legs, leg ulcer and priapism (prolonged erection of the penis).
Onijala added that there were various interventions to improve the lives of people living with sickle cell in Nigeria.
“In the past, many sickle cell children had stroke and we could not do anything about it, but now we can diagnose stroke in sickle cell children between two to 16 years before it happens and the stroke can be prevented.
“Many of our patients lost their legs as a result of leg ulcer, but now we can dress leg ulcer properly and we have recovered so many legs from being amputated.
“Also, instead of manual exchange blood transfusion, we can now perform exchange blood transfusion using latest technology without causing iron overload for the patient or going through the trauma of manual exchange,” he added.
Onijala also said that BMT remained the best way to cure the disease and that a center was being developed in collaboration with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
He maintained that management of the disease included treating underlying or associated infections as the stress of an infection could result in a sickle cell crisis.
He also encouraged sickle cell patients to drink a lot of water to prevent crisis and other complications.
“Carry a water bottle with you and keep drinking water throughout the day. Aim for at least eight to 10 glasses of water daily to help reduce sickle cell pain.
“Eat adequate amount of fruits, vegetables and whole-wheat grains as doing so can help your body make more Red Blood Cells (RBCs).
“Exercise regularly and reduce stress to reduce crisis and most importantly, contact your doctor immediately you think you have any type of infection as early treatment of an infection may prevent a full-blown crisis.
“Also, take immunisations as they help to prevent infections because patients tend to have lower immunity.”
Onijala added that the use of heating pads could help with pain relief and advised regular intake of folic acid supplements, as recommended by the doctor.
NAN reports that World Sickle Cell Day is commemorated on June 19 every year to raise awareness about the disorder and bring to the fore, measures that could be taken to avoid or manage it.
The theme for the 2022 celebration is “Sickle Cell Disorder: Importance of Self Care”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that each year over 300,000 babies with severe forms of sickle cell diseases are born worldwide, the majority in low and middle income countries.
It also says that the disease is characterised by a modification in the shape of the red blood cell from a smooth, donut-shape into a crescent or half-moon shape.
”The misshapen cells lack plasticity and can block small blood vessels, impairing blood flow.
”This condition leads to shortened red blood cell survival, and subsequent anaemia, often called sickle-cell anaemia.”
It added that poor blood oxygen levels and blood vessel blockages in people with sickle-cell disease could lead to chronic acute pain, severe bacterial infections and tissue death.
(NAN)