LUCKNOW: Experts blame ignorance of parents for growth of thalassemia, the most

common genetic disorder passed on to children. Its spread can be controlled easi
ly through genetic screening and counseling, they add. "To save life long agony,
all couples must get a carrier status tested before planning a child," said Dr
K G Rao, president of Thalassemics India Society.
Thalassemia major is the state in which body is not able to produce enough haemo
globin to meet out the requirement and thus becomes dependent on blood of donor.
"The patient depends on blood transfusion every 3-4 weeks all life. Besides fin
ancial and emotional stress, regular arrangement of safe blood is the biggest ch
allenge the family faces," said Seema Arya, mother of a thalassemic son.
If only one parent is a carrier of the thalassemia trait, the child may have a n
ormal life, but when both are carriers, there is a 25% chance in every pregnancy
of a thalassemic being born.
"If every expecting mother is informed and asked to get the test done to know if
she is a thalassemia carrier, it will curb the spread to a great extent," said
Dr Shobha Phadke, head of Medical Genetics department, Sanjay Gandhi Post Gradua
te Institute of Medical Sciences.
"Thalassemia is not curable through medicines, but totally preventable. Bone mar
row transplant is not only expensive, it is a tedious process finding a matching
bone marrow. It is therefore important that awareness about it prevention is cr
eated at mass level so that its occurrence is put halted," added Dr Rao.
Dr Phadke said, "The government must motivate gynecologists and pathologies to e
nsure every pregnant woman goes through the HbA2 test before week 14 of pregnanc
y".