New work shines light on blood disease

A new Chinese book shines a light on patients with thalassemia in China. It is an anemia that disrupts the production of hemoglobin in the blood and can lead to serious health issues such as bone deformities and cardiovascular problems. China has an estimated 30 million people with traits of the anemia and 300,000 with mild or severe thalassemia.

Blue Book of Thalassemia in China, the first major Chinese book on the subject, was released in Beijing recently.

It talks of prevention, treatment, medical insurance, people's awareness and support for the patients and their families, and is expected to be well-received by not just the country's medical community but the general public as well. The book is based on a study by a group of researchers from Beijing Normal University.

Beijing AngelMon Charity Foundation, a Chinese charity that offers financial help to thalassemia patients, initiated the book project, along with the China Thalassemia Union and China Siyuan Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

According to the book, people with traits of thalassemia alone don't usually need medical intervention but if both parents of a child have the genetic traits that trigger the anemia, the possibility of the child being healthy is only around 25 percent. In one of two such cases, the child will show similar traits and in one of five, the thalassemia will be severe, requiring bone marrow transplants, blood transfusions, removals of excessive iron from the body or removals of enlarged spleens.