June 19 is World Sickle Cell Day, the perfect time to learn more about this disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved five medications in the last month.

A drug commonly used to treat sickle cell disease (SCD) may wind up helping patients in more ways than one.

Sickle cell disease is a public health concern in the US and worldwide. There is no easy cure, but patients can live normal and productive lives with prompt detection and the right treatment.

Created by a United Nations resolution in 2008, World Sickle Cell Day was created to increase awareness of the genetic disease called sickle cell anemia.

Regular physical activity benefits the body in many ways, from weight loss to improved blood pressure. Those with the sickle cell trait might find an added benefit -- longevity and fewer complications. Unlike sickle cell disease, a painful inherited condition in which red blood cells are an abnormal crescent shape, those with the sickle cell trait inherit only one copy of the disease and have a mixture of normal and misshapen red blood cells. They tend to suffer from an increased risk of sickness and higher death rate. Ask your doctor about exercise if you suffer from sickle cel...

For some patients, sickle cell disease is a debilitating disease full of painful complications. Until recently it was tough to identify which patients were at risk for the most serious complications.

In the late 1990s there was a striking disparity among the number of black children who died of stroke as compared to white children. Black children were 74 percent more likely to die of a stroke, because of the higher prevalence of sickle cell anemia in that population.

A sickle cell anemia treatment may benefit infants as young as nine months old by reducing their level of pain from the disease. It also could reduce the need for blood transfusions and cut the rate of hospital admission.

Silent stroke may be the most common form of brain injury in children with sickle cell anemia, a rare, painful blood disorder. Recently, researchers have been able to pinpoint the risk factors for such strokes in children.