Revista de Biologia Neonatal

Abstrato

Neonatal screening of Sickle Cell Disease in Gabon: a nationwide study

Lucrece M Delicat-Loembet, Jérome Mezui-me-ndong, Thelesfort Mbang Mboro, Lucas Sicas, Maurille Feudjo, Ulrich Bisvigou, Jean Koko, Rolande Ducrocq, Jean-Paul Gonzalez

Gabon is a country in Central Africa with about 2.5 million inhabitants; it is one of the most under populated countries in the world. Its location on the equatorial plane and its tropical climate makes a favorable environment for the development of sickle cell disease. There are about 21% of people living with sickle cell trait throughout the country. Given the number of inhabitants, this percentage is worrying as it could lead to the birth of children sickle cell disease. This study aims at assessing the rate of births affected by sickle cell disease in Gabon, maintaining and expanding the routine neonatal screening program for the management of sickle cell disease, and controlling sickle cell disease at a national level. A total of 3,957 blood samples were collected on Guthrie paper between January 2007 and September 2010. Abnormal hemoglobin presence was detected by the Isoelectric Focusing (IEF) method and confirmed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results of this work revealed that 17.13% (678/3,957) of the children tested were carriers of the sickle cell trait (HbAS) and 1.34% (53/3,957) had sickle cell disease (HbSS).