student asking question

What's "sickle cell anemia"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Sickle cell anemia" is one illness within a group of disorders that fall under the term sickle cell. "Sickle cell anemia" is an inherited red blood cell disorder in which there aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body. Normally red blood cells are a rounded shape that helps them to move easily through the blood vessels in our bodies. In "sickle cell anemia", the blood cells are shaped like "sickles" (or crescent moons), which is where the name comes from. These misshaped cells can get stuck in small blood vessels, which can slow or block blood flow and oxygen to parts of the body.

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