Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) are exploring a number of ways to stop the disease in its tracks and develop treatment options for young children diagnosed with the ailment.
A disease that primarily affects black Americans, sickle cell disease is caused by a recessive trait in which blood cells are crescent shaped, rather than flat discs. Patients often suffer painful attacks that affect the long bones and the chest and can last from several minutes to days at a time.
