IMMUNOLOGIC STUDIES OF SICKLE CELL ANEMIA

Abstract

With the exception of the work reported by Diggs¹and that of Beck and Hertz,²practically none of the articles on sickle cell anemia published in the past five years includes investigative work on the subject. It seems that knowledge of the disease has reached an impasse at present and that all writing henceforth must consist of case reports and summarizations of the literature until a new stimulus arises to give further impetus to the study of the condition and an understanding of the facts at hand. The present information on this disease has done no more than give possible leads to the cause of the sickling phenomena. No one has yet found the cause, and, most important from the standpoint of the patient, no one has found an effective therapeutic regimen or agent that will materially help the patient in the active anemic stage of the disease.