Doctors Say They Have “Cured” A Sickle Cell Anemia Patient
Doctors say they may have found a cure to the century old disease, sickle cell anemia. A recent study says doctors in Paris claim to have “cured” a teenage patient of sickle cell anemia using gene therapy.
Dr. Jeffrey Underwood – a Montgomery physician says that while he’s no specialist when it comes to gene therapy,
the news sounds promising to say the least. “to have that type of hope and promise for a disease that has been around for centuries is something that I am thankful for” says Underwood.
Underwood says that gene therapy has been used to successfully treat other types of hereditary diseases. Doctors that performed the procedure say it will take a longer follow up to decide if the patient is truly cured.
Underwood says this isn’t the first time doctors have claimed to have found a cure to the gene disorder. He says “Well we do have promising treatments that have been touted in the past as hopefully a cure and they have turned out not to be such”.
Sickle Cell disease is one of the most common gene disorders in the world. According to Underwood, “that a disease that for the longest seems to have been fairly neglected disease”. He says that any efforts to find a cure are steps in the right direction.
