The latest studies conducted by the Ministry of Health and Sultan Qaboos University on the prevalence of hereditary blood diseases showed that 5.7 percent of the population of the Sultanate carry a gene for sickle cell anemia and 2.61 percent carry a gene for thalassemia (B), while it showed that more than one percent of those carry a gene for other sickle diseases.
Around 10 percent of the population of the Sultanate carries a gene from the genetic blood diseases in the B series, which are usually serious.
The study indicated that 48 percent of the population carry a gene for thalassemia (A) and about 60 percent of them carry a gene for blood diseases.
Dr. Thoraya bint Saif al Hosani, chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Omani Society for Hereditary Blood Diseases, said that genetic blood diseases are transmitted from parents to children and are prevalent not only in the Sultanate but also in many countries of the world and the Middle East, including the Gulf region.
She added that consanguineous marriage is among the reasons for the increase in its prevalence and that many people may be carriers of these diseases from different regions. Even marriages not with relatives carry the risk of disease outbreak in children. There are also reports of transmission of these diseases from one region to another.
She said early medical examination is the basic and only way to limit the spread of these diseases.
Dr. Salam bin Salem al Kindi, Professor and Senior Consultant of Hematology at Sultan Qaboos University, said patients with genetic blood diseases are given priority while providing Covid-19 vaccines aS they are among the groups most vulnerable to infections. He said most of the immunizations related to children have been approved from 12 years and above, especially the Pfizer-Biotech vaccine, and we are awaiting the results of other studies regarding children under the age of twelve.
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