A woman whose hemoglobin S levels are less than 1% has a brother with sickle cell disease and both parents have been diagnosed as carriers for the disorder. She asks what her risks are of having a child with sickle cell disease. What is the best response?

The correct answer is: she won't have children with the disease because for this particular condition to appear, both parents need to have the trait and she doesn't have it.

Explanation:

Sickle Cell Disease is a condition that affects the red blood cells, since the hemoglobin (the protein inside the red blood cells that carry oxygen and carbon dioxide) is abnormal. This condition produces anemia and may lead to higher chances of bacterial infection and strokes.

Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic condition that is inherited in a recessive way: this means that for someone to have it, both parents must have the trait for the condition.

the oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through pulmonary veins, which return it to the left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. this blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. from the left ventricle, the blood passes through the aortic valve to the aorta.

deoxygenated blood leaves through the right ventricle through the pulmonary artery. from the right atrium, the blood is pumped through the tricuspid valve (or right atrioventricular valve), into the right ventricle.