Mediterranean Anemia in the Negro

• Published in: Blood Vol. 10; no. 12; pp. 1256 - 1266
• Main Authors: Schwartz, Steven O., Hartz, Wilson H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.12.1955
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood.V10.12.1256.1256

IN 1949, under the title of Mediterranean Anemia in the Negro, one of us6 (S. O. S., and Mason) reported the presence of Mediterranean anemia in four patients and their families. The diagnosis rested, among other things, on the presence of target cells, a feature at that time prominently associated with Mediterranean anemia. The report antedated the recognition in 1950 of C hemoglobin by Itano and his co-workers,3 and the clinical studies2,4,9 in which target cells were found to be an outstanding characteristic of red cells containing hemoglobin C. In discussing the patients presumed to have Mediterranean anemia as reported by Schwartz and Mason,6 Kaplan and his colleagues4 suggested in 1951 that perhaps hemoglobin C disease might have resulted in the same clinical as well as hematologic manifestations previously diagnostic of Mediterranean anemia. A re-examination of our data was therefore in order. In the course of re-evaluation and the extension of our2 studies on abnormal hemoglobins, it was established that Kaplan and his associates had indeed been correct in their surmise in that two of our patients proved to have hemoglobin C disease rather than Mediterranean anemia. In the other two patients, however, the diagnosis of Mediterranean anemia was confirmed and, provided eventual disclosures do not nullify our present criteria, the diagnosis has been further substantiated by new criteria presented herein.