Glossary

Acute - beginning quickly, sharp or severe.

Acute Chest Syndrome - pneumonia and sickle cell crisis in chest.

Afebrile - no fever.

Analgesic - a drug that relieves pain.

Anemia - low blood count.

Aphasia - defective or absent language.

Aplastic Crisis - bone marrow temporarily stops making red blood cells

Aseptic Necrosis - gradual breakdown or destruction of bones usually involving the hips, knees or elbow joints.

Bilirubin - yellow substance which comes from the breakdown of red cells.

Bone marrow - the place inside your bones where blood cells are made.

Carriers - persons who carry a gene for a disease but do not have the disease.

Chemotherapy - Medicines that are used to fight cancer.

Cholelithiasis - the presence of gallstones in the gallbladder.

Chronic transfusions - a blood transfusion that is given about once each month to hopefully prevent further complications from sickle cell disease.

Crisis - an emergency related to sickle cell disease.

Dehydration - loss of body fluids from sweating, diarrhea and urination.

Diarrhea - frequent and watery bowel movement.

Dysfunction - unable to function normally.

Dyspnea - difficulty breathing.

Dysuria - irritating or painful urination.

Enuresis - the inability to control urination.

Fibrosis - the spread of fiber like connective tissue over normal smooth muscle or other normal organ tissue.

Genes - message carriers which are passed on to children through the mother's egg and the father's sperm. Genes carry the messages for things like eye color, hair color, blood type, and the kind of hemoglobin a person will have.

Genetic Centers - genetic specialists can arrange for genetic tests and can answer questions on how genetic conditions may be passed on in families.

Geneticist - a doctor who specializes in hereditary conditions.

Hematologist - a doctor who specializes in blood disorders.

Hematomegaly - abnormal enlargement of the liver.

Hematuria - blood in the urine.

Hemiparesis - muscular weakness of one half of the body.

Hemoglobin - the part of blood that carries and delivers oxygen to all parts of the body.

Hemoglobin SC Disease - a variant of sickle cell disease.

Hemoglobinopathy - abnormal hemoglobin.

Hemolytic - breakdown of red blood cells and release of hemoglobin.

Hepatomegaly - enlarged liver

Hyposthenuria - unconcentrated urine.

Infection - invasion of the body by germs causing disease.

Inherited - passed on from the father and mother to their child.

Jaundice - yellow pigment (color) to eyes and skin

Meningitis - brain infection.

Morbidity - disease.

Mortality - death.

Nephrotic Syndrome - a kidney disease.

Osteomyelitis - bone infection.

Pallor - paleness of skin.

Platelets - part of the blood that helps make blood clot.

Pneumonia - lung infection.

Priapism - prolonged, unexpected painful erections without sexual desire.

Prophylactic - preventive.

Retinopathy - an eye disorder without redness or swelling, caused by changes in the eye blood vessels.

Sepsis - serious blood infection.

Sickle beta-thalassemia - a variant of sickle cell disease.

Sickle Cell Anemia (SS) - most common sickling disease in the United States.

Sickle Cell Crisis - an emergency related to sickle cell disease where blood flow stops due to plugging of blood vessels with sickled cells

Sickle Cell Trait - a normal hemoglobin gene is inherited from one parent and a single hemoglobin gene from the other.

Sickle Cells - red blood cells that look sickle-shaped ( ) ) under a microscope.

Sickling Disease - sickle cell anemia (SS), sickle-C (SC), and sickle beta-thalassemia (S-B-thalassemia)

Spleen - an organ on the left side of the belly. It acts as a filter for blood.

Splenic Sequestration - spleen overfills with blood.

Stertorous breathing - labored breathing.

Stroke - clogging of blood vessels to the brain.

Tachycardia - rapid heart beat

Tachypnea - fast rate of breathing.

Thalassemia major - an inherited disease with an abnormal hemoglobin that requires lifelong transfusions but does not put a child at risk for infection or crisis.

Thalassemia minor (trait) - an abnormal type of hemoglobin that is sometimes inherited along with sickle hemoglobin to produce sickle-beta thalassemia. Having the trait by itself, is not harmful.

Transfusion - giving blood to replace blood lost through injury, surgery or disease.

Ulcers - sores on the skin.

Urination - passing water or peeing.

Venous - of the veins.

Vessels - the tubes that blood flows through such as veins, arteries, and capillaries.