Beta Thalassemia: A Fatal Genetic Disease Destroying the Lives of Children and Adolescents Beta thalassemia major (BT) is an astringent hemolytic anemia characterized by single gene deformity. It has over 200 mutations; most of them are very rare and affect about 20 different alleles in the chromosome. About 3% of the world's population carries this gene. As scary as the word may sound, beta thalassemia comes from thalassa meaning sea and haima meaning blood. In layman terms, it is called “Mediterranean” anemia or “Cooley's anemia”. One can imagine that the disease occurs predominantly in the Middle East region or Southwestern Asia due to its common name, which is exactly correct. Beta thalassemia is a rare disease transmitted from parents to children. There is a detailed mechanism for how this can occur. Basically once an offspring's chromosome has a defect in both of its alleles which are a beta globin mutation; he or she is prone to suffering from a severe form of beta thalassemia, called beta thalassemia major. It would significantly affect the way the child develops, thinks and is associated with various disorders that can cause imbalances in the body system causing premature death at an early age. According to the National Health of Rare Diseases, an early symptom of this disease is a general feeling of ill health (malaise), weakness, pale complexion, stomach pain (dyspepsia), and heart palpitations. Affected newborns may have a yellow appearance on the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes (jaundice); leg ulcers; an abnormally enlarged liver, hepatomegaly (April 2013, p 6). If the victim receives proper treatment, he or she may see adolescence. You may ask: why is it important to study this d...... half of the document ...... if it is not treated with accordingly. A common treatment for an individual especially in North Africa suffering from this microcytic anemia disorder is mainly eating some herbs with the idea of ​​increasing the iron supply to the body, however, it does not work for every individual due to the severity level of the illness. beta thalassemia, further medical treatment is mostly carried out with specific medical prescriptions, to increase the iron level, others to increase the absorption of iron to form a normal red blood cell. Works cited Stefano R, The role of ineffective erythropoiesis in non-transfusion dependent thalassemia subjects.[Internet]. April 2012 [cited November 17, 2013]; 26(0 1):S12–S15. Available from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uosc.edu/eds/detail?vid=3&sid=5567aaa2-a958-45d2-aa60e8b390862281%40sessionmgr11&hid=105&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=edselp& AN=S0 268960X1270005X