What are the three types of thalassemia?
What are the three types of thalassemia?
When you have beta thalassemia, your body doesn’t make enough protein in red blood cells called hemoglobin. That makes it hard for oxygen to get to all of your body’s cells. There are three main types of the disease: beta thalassemia major, intermedia, and minor.
What causes anemia in thalassemia?
Thalassemia is caused by mutations in the DNA of cells that make hemoglobin — the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout your body. The mutations associated with thalassemia are passed from parents to children.
Why is thalassemia called Cooley anemia?

Thalassemia major or Cooley anemia is one of the common monogenic hereditary hemoglobin disorders. It results from the absence of a beta-globin chain in the pathway of hemoglobin production. It is now a global public health concern due to changing demographics.
Are you anemic if you have thalassemia?
When there are not enough healthy red blood cells, there is also not enough oxygen delivered to all the other cells of the body, which may cause a person to feel tired, weak or short of breath. This is a condition called anemia. People with thalassemia may have mild or severe anemia.
What is the difference between anemia and thalassemia?
Anemia is a condition in which your body doesn’t have enough normal, healthy red blood cells. Thalassemia is inherited, meaning that at least one of your parents must be a carrier of the disorder. It’s caused by either a genetic mutation or a deletion of certain key gene fragments.

What type of anemia is thalassemia?
There are two main types of thalassemia: alpha and beta. Different genes are affected for each type. Thalassemia can cause mild or severe anemia. Anemia occurs when your body does not have enough red blood cells or hemoglobin.
Which thalassemia is most common?
Frequency. Beta thalassemia is a fairly common blood disorder worldwide. Thousands of infants with beta thalassemia are born each year. Beta thalassemia occurs most frequently in people from Mediterranean countries, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Do blood transfusions shorten your life?
Results: The median length of survival was 95.0 (+/- 2.5) months. Twenty-four percent of patients died within 1 year after the transfusion, 30 percent within 2 years, 40 percent within 5 years, and 52 percent within 10 years.
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