- In people with sickle cell anaemia, rather than blood cells being round and flexible, they become hard and sticky and are shaped like sickles. This means they can get stuck when moving through small blood vessels, stopping the supply of oxygen to parts of the body. This is known as a "sickling crisis" and can cause pain, tissue damage or complications, such as a stroke or blindness
- People who inherit one of the mutated genes are known as having the sickle cell trait - their bodies make both normal and sickle shaped blood cells and usually they have no obvious symptoms. If two people who have the sickle cell trait have a child, there is a 25 per cent chance the child will have sickle cell anaemia. The disease can be diagnosed with a blood test
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