| Just carrying the sickle-cell trait is mostly neutral to highly advantageous depending on where you live, because it confers substantially increased resistance to Malaria. This is how a trait that is so dangerous when expressed has managed to spread; in regions with endemic malaria, carriers have better survival chances and the difference is sufficient to make up for those who express it and end up dying young. It is recessive - you need to inherit it from both parents to express it. So it is in fact entirely safe for this man to have children provided he has children with someone who is not a carrier, or ensure appropriate tests are taken during pregnancy. Most people who carry this trait in developed countries today know about it, because the mechanism is very clear and they will usually know whether or not any of their family expressed the trait, and will have been tested to see if they inherited it. E.g. we had our son tested because his mother is a carrier, but because I am not we knew he could not have sickle cell disease. My son is a carrier, but all that means is that like the guy in this article, he will want to make sure his partner is tested before having children, and to ensure to decide in advance what to do if both are carriers or if his partner has the disease (such as whether to have an abortion if tests show the child has the disease). We can expect the number of people with this gene to drop over time because it is now so easy to avoid. But in the meantime a treatment would make a massive difference for those with the disease. |