Understanding Sickle Cell Disease (Understanding Health and Sickness Series) (Paperback)

~ Ph.D., Miriam Bloom (Author) "There are many different causes of human disease..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, African Americans, Atlantic West Africa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"Over 50,000 black Americans suffer from sickle cell disease, which makes it a major public health concern in the United States," writes Bloom, a geneticist and former senior editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This first volume in the publisher's new "Understanding Health and Sickness" series offers readers insight into this as yet incurable, inherited disease. Bloom starts with an overview of the disease; other topics include a discussion of who gets the disease (which includes not only people of African descent but of Mediterranean ancestry as well), the red blood cell, effects of the disease, care of sickle cell patients, family planning, and the search for a cure. An extensive list of organizations and support groups is included. Though dry and technical, Bloom's book gives informed general readers a look into this genetically transmitted disease. For medical collections. [See also "A Critical Care Collection for African Americans," LJ 1/95, p. 53-56.?Ed.]?Angela Washington-Blair, Lakemont Acad., Dalla.
-?Angela Washington-Blair, Lakemont Acad., Dallas
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Until recently not at all well understood, sickle cell disease afflicts a very specific portion of the population, namely persons of African descent and, to a lesser degree, those from the Middle East, India, and the Mediterranean area (some in the affected groups carry the disease without suffering from it themselves). Bloom discusses what the disease is, how it is transmitted, why it strikes whom it does, and the relationship between the sickle cell gene's geographic origins and how it has been spread throughout history. Addressing more personal matters, she considers emotional aspects of the disease, its symptoms, living with it, and keeping one's family free of it in the U.S. today; and she also ventures beyond purely medical matters, as when she discusses the role of the slave trade in spreading the disease. Although it imparts much technical information, the book is very much for the lay reader. Mike Tribby --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi; 1 edition (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878057455
• ISBN-13: 978-0878057450
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #402,512 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, January 12, 2007

By	mdgirl "Nita" (Maryland) - See all my reviews

I did not understand much about the disease until I read this book. This was an excellent source.