HOW IMPERATIVE IS IT FOR POTENTIAL COUPLES TO CHECK THEIR GENOTYPE?

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While we are bemoaned by the corona virus cases that are recorded every day, it would surprise you to know that 2-3% of our population, that is, approximately 6 million people in Nigeria today, are carriers of the sickle cell disease. Therefore what this tells us then is either of the following:

  1. People are not checking their genotype before choosing a life partner. Or
  2. People are neglecting the fact that they alongside their potential partners are carriers of the sicle cell trait and are forging ahead to marry even after checking their genotype group.

And by so doing, they are putting their unborn children at the risk of incurring a debilitating chaotic physiology, in other words, they are giving them an unmerited punishment for something they have nothing to do with.

Ok, let me tell you a little story: few days after my secondary school graduation, I and my mates got the news that we have just lost one of us, and in as much as we were saddened by the news, I dont think we were all too surprised. Reason being because she was a sickler (SS). Now the the interesting part of my story, was when her dad was addressing us, he advised us not to make the same mistake he and his wife had made, though, he attributed his own mistake to ignorance, owing to the fact that they weren’t educated with regards to genotyping. But again the funny thing about this whole scenario is down to the fact that amongst his four (4) to five (5) children, she was the only one with the sickle anemia disease.

Just so you don’t get me wrong, I want us to know that sickle cell anemia is not a death sentence, besides there are records of people with this disease living up to 90 years. But again, you can’t undermine the fact that this disease is highly devastating, for example, 

  • people with this disease can’t perform rigorous activities.
  • There immune system is weak thus they are more prone to contacting all kinds of disease with the exception of malaria, owing to the fact that the sickle cell gene coincides with the area endemic for malaria. So therefore HbS affords protection against plasmodium falciparum, a parasite responsible for causing malaria.
So in summary, I want to charge everyone reading this post, to ensure they learn their genotyping alongside that of thier potential partners before making the vows of marriage. 

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