A benign sickle-cell disease in a Saudi subject with beta zero-thalassemia and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency

Abstract

Sickle-cell disease with raised fetal hemoglobin is found relatively frequently in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. In contrast to the severe and sometimes life-threatening complications of sickle-cell disease in the black population, Saudi Arabs homozygotes for HbS gene exhibit a mild course for this disease. Here we present a Saudi sickle-cell patient with an unusually low fetal hemoglobin level. Moreover, this individual has beta 0-thalassemia and a deficiency in the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Clinical and hematological examinations revealed a remarkably benign condition. This observation is potentially important since most of the mild clinical symptoms of sickle-cell disease have been attributed to high fetal hemoglobin. Clearly in this case, other factors are operating and may be also operating in those patients with high fetal hemoglobin.