Turkish doctors to fight thalassemia in Iraq's Mosul

A delegation from the City of Mosul's Health Department led by Dr. Selahattin Huseyin paid a visit of courtesy to Dr. Duran Canatan on Thursday.

Dr. Huseyin and Dr. Canatan exchanged viewpoints on methods to fight against thalassemia in Mosul.

The two doctors signed a preliminary protocol, one that will be coordinated by the Governorship of Mosul, to fight against thalassemia.

Dr. Canatan said that Turkey began its struggle against thalassemia in 2003.

"Since then, the number of Turkish patients with thalassemia has decreased by 90 percent," Dr. Canatan stressed.

Thalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease. In thalassemia, the genetic defect results in reduced rate of synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up hemoglobin. Reduced synthesis of one of the globin chains can cause the formation of abnormal hemoglobin molecules, thus causing anemia, the characteristic presenting symptom of the thalassemias.

Thalassemia is a quantitative problem of too few globins synthesized, whereas sickle-cell anemia (a hemoglobinopathy) is a qualitative problem of synthesis of an incorrectly functioning globin. Thalassemias usually result in underproduction of normal globin proteins, often through mutations in regulatory genes.

Hemoglobinopathies imply structural abnormalities in the globin proteing themselves. The two conditions may overlap, however, since some conditions which cause abnormalities in globin proteins (hemoglobinopathy) also affect their production (thalassemia). Thus, some thalassemias are hemoglobinopathies, but most are not. Either or both of these conditions may cause anemia.

The disease is particularly prevalent among Mediterranean people, and this geographical association was responsible for its naming: Thalassa, meaning sea and blood in Greek language.


/World Bulletin/