ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: Presen-tly there are an estimated 100,000 cases of thalassaemia in Pakistan, which makes up for almost five per cent of the world cases. This number is increasing by about 5,000 new births every year.

This was stated by Lt-Gen (Rtd) Fahim Khan, President, Pakistan Thalassaemia Welfare Society in his lecture on “Thalassaemia: Causes, spread and prevention, organized by Pakistan Science Foundation.

With the annual population growth of 3.2 per cent and a very high rate of marriages within the family, an estimated 5,000 children are born with thalassaemia annually in Pakistan.

Thalassaemia is most widespread hereditary disease in Pakistan and it should be controlled before it assumes unmanageable proportions, he stressed.

As per different studies it has been estimated that in Pakistan five to eight per cent of its population is suffering from minor thalassaemia (trait) who are not even aware of their hidden malady and are playing a vital role in the spread of the disease.

The number of minor thalassaemia cases is also increasing and this vicious cycle must be broken before the disease becomes a direct threat to the people of Pakistan, he emphasised.

If one of the parent is thalassaemic then the children would be healthy carriers. If both parents are thalassaemic then chances of thalassaemic major are extremely high among the children.

This is the worst form of thalassaemia in which patients lose the ability to produce blood and live on borrowed blood, Gen Fahim said. “A child suffering from thalassaemia major needs one bottle of fresh blood after every one month”.

Since it is a genetic disease preventive programme should include carrier screening, marriage counselling and offer prenatal diagnosis, he said.

Prenatal diagnosis has given a new dimension to prevention of thalassaemia as a result of which parents can decide whether they would like to have a thalassaemic child or not.

He said there was a time when 80 per cent of thalassemic cases occurred in the Mediterranean region. Through concerted efforts of the respective governments the occurrence was brought down to two to three per cent.

“They had made it mandatory for priests who supervise marriages to make it sure that none of the marrying couples are suffering from the diseases”, he emphasised.

He disclosed, so far the ministry of health has not included this dreadful disease in the schedule of the WHO and Unicef for regular support to treat and even eradicate it from the country.