Who does sickle cell affect?

Sickle cell is an inherited disorder. You can not get it by being near someone or someone coughing on you. You can only get it by having the genes for sickle cell. Just like a person has blue eyes or brown hair. Everyone caries two genes. A normal person has two AA genes. A person with the trait carries the AS gene and a person with sickle cell carries the SS gene. So if your parents have two AA genes you do not have a chance of getting sickle cell. If your parents both have sickle cell, you will definitely have sickle cell. Please see chart below.

AA AS
Mom Dad

Child- AA
Child- AS
Child- AA
Child- AS
Your child has a 50% chance of having a trait and 50% chance of having normal blood.

AS AS
Mom Dad

Child- AA
Child- AS
Child- AS
Child- SS
Your child has a 1in 4 chance of having normal blood
Your child has a 50% chance of being a carrier of the trait.
Your child has a 1 in 4 chance of having sickle cell disease.

This is with every child. Every time you have a child the chances are the same. Please let me know if you have any questions.