question_answer

Gita delivered a child who was diagnosed with Thalassemia. Gita's inlaws started blaming her for delivering a sick child.

(i) What is Thalassemia?

(ii) How would you counsel the family not to blame Gita for delivering a child suffering from Thalassemia? Explain.

(iii) What values are shown by Gita's inlaws?

Answer:

(i) Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive disease. It occurs due to reduced rate of synthesis of one of the globin chains of haemoglobin.

(ii) I would counsel them by explaining the pattern of inheritance of this disease. The child is affected because both the mother and father are the carriers of the gene for thalassemia because it is expressed in homozygous condition only.

(iii) Gita's inlaws are insensitive and lack knowledge about the disease.