In 1910 a 20 year old student from the East Indies who was attending a professional school in Chicago came to a doctor. He was in great pain.

When his doctor, James Herrick, looked under the microscope at his patient's blood, he saw bizarre sickle-shaped blood erythocytes that were "sickle shaped", fragile and sticky. His description of this sight, and the picture above, was the first description of sickle cell disease in western literature. Members of various african tribes and nations had, however, noticed the disease pattern.

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