thalassaemiaor Cooley's disease

thalassaemiaor Cooley's disease

a type of human anaemia in which there is a deficiency of either alpha or beta HAEMOGLOBIN chains. Various causes have been found for the condition, including a recessive mutant allele for beta-chain deficiency that is present in high frequencies in certain areas of the Mediterranean, often associated with high incidence of mosquito activity The disease is sometimes named after the American paediatrician Thomas B. Cooley (1871–1945).

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005