Incidental Detection of Sickle Cell Anaemia as a Significant Haematological Problem in an Island Based Population

Introduction: Sickle cell anaemia is a haematological disease with a known gentic cause. However, there is paucity of data regarding this condition from islands of the world. Also there is no previous study in which incidentally sickle cell anaemia has been detected at a mass scale in a large number of cases as part of celebration of a national event. Materials & Methods: The study was carried out on 500 students who were participating in the republic day celebrations on 26th January 2017 at Kavaratti island, Lakshadweep. Amongst these students 250 complained of drowsiness and pain in leg, knees and chest. They were given immediate medical attention and blood samples were drawn. In the laboratory complete blood count, peripheral smear examination and sickling test were performed. The haematological data was analyzed and correlated. Results: Out of total 250 cases, 150 (60%) showed positive sickle cell test. Peripheral smear examination showed that in 65 out of these 150 cases (43.3%) there was a picture of Sickle thalassemia (HbSThal). In the rest of 85 cases (57%) the smears showed variable presence of sickle cells ranging from occaisional to many. The haemoglobin in all these cases ranged from 10-14.5 g/dl Conclusion: Present study is the first report of its kind in which sickle cell anaemia has been detected incidentally in a large number of cases simultaneously as part of celebration of a national event. It also highlights importance of fluid replacement therapy in cases of sickle cell anaemia who develop vaso-occlusive crises.