Thalassemia is of two types
1. Thalassemia Minor :
It is just a carrier state. It is also called Thalassemia Trait. About 4% of Indian population carries this gene. The life of a person who is a Thalassemia Minor is just like any other normal individual.
2. Thalassemia Major :
Thalassemia Major disease happens to only children whose both parents are Thalassemia Minors. Minors are themselves absolutely normal and do not suffer any ailment nor do require blood. But if two Minors marry their children could be Thalassemia Major. Just by preventing the marriage between two Minors, we can have a society free of Thalassemia Major children, which also affects the economy of the country in a big way.
There are two main methods of preventing this disease:
- Avoiding marriage between two Thalassemia Minor.
- If both the partners in a marriage are Thalassemia Minor, then to undergo Pre-natal diagnosis in early pregnancy to determine whether the child to be born would be normal or Thalassemia Major & in that case, to undergo legal abortion.
