Are you a carrier?

There is a one in four chance that the offspring of two carriers will inherit thalassemia disease (thalassemia major), which -- until quite recently -- was always fatal by early adulthood. It remains a deadly disease. With the growing rate of intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, as well as the increased frequency of Ashkenazic-Sephardic marriages, there is an ever-increasing risk of this devastating disease occurring in an unaware Ashkenazic population.

To find out if you are a carrier, ask your physician about your MCV level, which is normally recorded in a standard blood test. If it is less than 78, you should have an evaluation of your hemoglobin A2.