Ludhiana College of Engineering & Technology organized one day seminar to spread awareness about the genetic disease called thalassemia, thereby contributing towards the "jiyo zindagi" campaign. Dr. Priyanka, head and consultant in hueomato oncology at SPS hospital Ludhiana was the key note speaker. Dr. Priyanka addressed the audience about various preventive measures, symptoms, categories of the disease. She also threw light on critical aspect of the disease like minor or major thalassemia, how they differ and their causes. She advised students to get tested for thalassemia minor and motivated them to even spread the world, because two minor parents result in giving birth to child with major thalassemia which is horrifying journey to experience throughout the lifetime including blood transfusions every month along with the pile of medicines to be taken till the end.
If only one of parents is a carrier for thalassemia, child may develop a form of the disease known as thalassemia minor. If this occurs, one probably won’t have symptoms, but will be a carrier of the disease. She later explains the symptoms of major thalassemia which generally appear before a child’s second birthday like fussiness, paleness, frequent infection, a poor appetite. These severe anemia related to this condition can be life-threatening.Vijay Gupta, Chairman, LCET said at the moment that such Seminars prove to be very knowledgeable and can definitely save many lives. According to him Thalassemia is caused by variant or missing genes that affect how the body makes hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. People with thalassemia make less hemoglobin and have fewer circulating red blood cells than normal, which results in mild or severe anemia.