Drepanocytose= Drepa= Sickle Cell Anemia

There is a lot of SSA here. It makes sense, hospital in Central Africa, but I didn't realize how prevalent it is. In a day, we easily see 5-10 "controlle" patients, those coming in for outpatient check up appointments. We take a look at how anemic they are, make sure their immunizations are up to date, and prescribe folic acid and other meds if necessary.

If you need to check to see if a patient has splenomegaly, I'm your gal. There is no screening for sickle cell here, and often an electrophoresis is not obtained to determine if there is sickle cell anemia until a patient has an exam finding (splenomegaly), or a funky infection, or anemia that won't improve. I have felt spleens that are halfway down the child's abdomen, and have seen kids who have their spleens removed.

I am supposed to give a talk to the nurses at some point during my time here (in french eek). I think I may talk about sickle cell anemia, because the nurses learn on the job (they don't have classes that teach them about the pathophysiology of disease). Many of the nurses have family members with SSA, and I think it would be useful to break down what happens from the molecular level to the clinical manifestations.

Oh, also, no hydroxyurea here! Mothers with children with sickle cell anemia haven't even heard of it.