Thalassemia is a group of genetic disorders characterized by production of abnormal hemoglobin in red blood cells.

It is sometimes called Mediterranean anemia, von Jaksch anemia or Cooley's anemia, named after the physicians who first diagnosed it. Thalassemia affects all races. People of Mediterranean descent, such as Italians and Greeks, and people in the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Africa, Southeast Asia and southern China are genetically more prone to it.

The symptoms in thalassemia vary greatly according to its type. Mostly the symptoms are caused by the insufficient supply of oxygen to the tissues (anemia). Though a genetic disorder passed on from parents, all patients do not suffer the same degree.

Silent carriers : persons having the alpha thalassemia trait or beta thalassemia traitgenerally have no symptoms. The condition is so mild that even the positive finding of slightly reduced red cell count and hemoglobin are incidental.

Thalassemia is a genetic disorder. It is the most common, inherited single gene disorder in the world. Many possible variant and mutant forms are possible.

All red blood cells contain ‘hemoglobin’. The hemoglobin in the blood picks up oxygen from the lungs and transports it to all body tissues. It also picks up carbon dioxide from these tissues and delivers it to the lungs to be expired out of our bodies.