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A severe, chronic anemia of the blood. Red blood cells, normally round, form into sickle or crescent shapes and clog blood vessels which reduces oxygen to that part of the body. This causes severe pain to the area. This is an inherited disease, occurring when a child inherits an S gene from his mother, and an S gene from his father. Parents who each carry this defective S gene have a 1 in 4 chance that any child born to them will have this disorder. Hydroxyurea is used to treat sickle cell patients, and has reduced by half the frequency of painful crises. See (Watchtower Oct. 8, l996).