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  3. Symptoms Symptoms often appear after the child reaches the age of six months. One of the first signs is painful swelling of t

Symptoms Symptoms often appear after the child reaches the age of six months. One of the first signs is painful swelling of t

admin2010-06-18  23
问题                               Symptoms
   Symptoms often appear after the child reaches the age of six months. One of the first signs is painful swelling of the hands or the feet or both. The child may cry frequently and not eat much. The whites of the eyes may appear yellow. The tongue, lips, and palms may be paler than normal. Children showing these symptoms should be taken to a hospital, where a blood test can show if the problem is sickle-cell anemia.
   When sickle cells, clog blood vessels, pain most commonly affects the joints. A severe crisis can also disrupt the work of the brain, the lungs, the heart, the kidneys, and the spleen — sometimes with fatal consequences. Leg ulcers in the ankle region may persist for years. Children risk seizures or strokes. Those with sickle-cell anemia are especially prone to infectious diseases, since the disorder weakens natural defenses. Infection is a common cause of death.
   Of course, not everyone with sickle-cell anemia develops all these symptoms. And some do not experience problems until they reach their late teens.
Treatment
   Many parents have wasted both time and money pursuing treatments that promised a cure for their children. But presently there is no cure for sickle-cell anemia; it is a lifelong disorder. There are, however, simple things that can be done to minimize the frequency of crises, and there are ways to deal with them when they happen.
   When a crisis occurs, parents should give their child plenty of water to drink. They can also give a mild pain-relieving drug. Severe pain may require stronger drugs that can be obtained only from a doctor. Sadly, though, sometimes even powerful drugs bring little relief. There is no need to panic, however. In almost all cases, after a few hours or days, the pain subsides and the patient recovers.
   Scientists are searching for drugs to help treat the disorder. Early in 1995, for example, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in the United States announced that the drug hydroxyurea reduced by half the frequency of painful crises in sickle-cell patients. It is thought to do this by preventing red blood cells from changing their shape and clogging the blood vessels.
   Such drugs are not readily available everywhere, nor are they helpful in every situation. And despite the well-known dangers, doctors in Africa and elsewhere regularly administer blood transfusions to treat sickle-cell patients in emergency situations.
Ways to deal with sickle-cell anemia crisis do NOT include______.
选项 A、Drinking plenty of water
B、Taking pain-reliever drugs
C、Receiving blood transfusions
D、Taking injections of antibiotics
答案D
解析
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