What happens to the fetus if both parents have abnormal hemoglobin variant traits?

Question

Hello doctor,

My wife is pregnant for the past few weeks. My wife and I have Hb D and Hb E traits respectively. Can my child face any health issues due to this?

Please help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I went through your query and understood your concern.

It is a form of autosomal recessive inheritance. Your child can have a 75 % chance of acquiring trait problems from any one of the parents. There is no problem with that. People with traits can live a normal life. But here, there is a 25 % chance of acquiring abnormal traits from both parents. In that case, the child can have a moderate degree of anemia in a lifetime. Blood transfusion is given only if needed otherwise it is not a transfusion-dependent disease. It is not as dangerous as that of a beta-thalassemia major according to my opinion.

I hope this has helped you.

Thanks and regards.