On the issue of genetic compatibility

She came crying to me that her boyfriend of three years just broke up with her over the phone and I was perplexed.

How could this be? What in the world could have led to the tragic end of my friend's three-year honeymoon relationship? I wondered as I consoled her.

My wicked angel was like, "Phew! Thank God! My nights will be midnight calls free."

But my good angel with its wounded expression sympathized with her.

She was obviously hurt by the break up and upon further inquiries of the cause,sobbed and muttered;

"He said we were genetically incompatible. That we both had AS genotypes and he couldn't take the risk."

 How sad.

 The truth is,like so many people out there,I had a vague knowledge of genetic compatibility before that time until my friend's breakup got me researching.

    Genotype...
    Simply refers to hemoglobin gene constituents
    Genes are always in pairs and overall express-
    ion depends whether dominant,recessive or
    X-linked. So there is no problem when one of
    the genes is abnormal eg. AS,AC. This is called
    carrier state(sickle cell trait). Only when the
    two are abnormal then there is a great prob-
    lem.

The genotypes in humans are AA,AS,AC and SS.
  
I hadn't heard of the AC genotype until this research. Apparently,the AC gene is not common or I've simply not heard about it. But both AS and AC are abnormal,take note.

 The great risk my friend's ex-boyfriend was referring to is the possibility of giving birth to a child suffering from the Sickle Cell Disease.
 
 Sickle cell disease(a recessive disorder) is a very serious medical condition with high prevalence rate in sub Saharan Africa. Almost 300,000 children are born with a form of sickle-cell disease every year in sub Saharan Africa which may lead to various acute and chronic complications,several of which have a high mortality rate.
 
 So who can you marry and who shouldn't you marry based on genotype compatibility?

 Someone with the AA genotype can marry across. That is,there is no fear of having a sickler child even if he or she marries an SS. AA marrying an SS only results in AS children.
 
 Someone with the AS genotype should only marry someone with the AA genotype because if AS marries AS there is one out of four possibilities(AS,AA,SS,AS) that they will have a child with the sickle cell disease. Same applies when AC is combined.
 
 Of course there are miraculous cases where two abnormals that were combined like AS and AC or AS and AS had up to five or six children without a single sickler among them. But why risk it?What if you are not so lucky?Can you forgive yourself when you end up having a child with the sickle cell disease and putting the child through the agony the disease brings when you can easily avoid it?
 
 Although his method of ending the relationship was not so cool(like someone said) I agree with his reason and would rather not risk it.

Disclaimers;
*The good and bad angel were inspired by watching too much Tom and Jerry cartoons as a kid, don't think we have such literally though.

*My friend is better off for the break up tho, she's dating an AA genotype dude! Obviously a good match.

*As much as I'd love to be seen as knowledgeable, much of what has been said on genotype especially the definition is Dr Ademola Peter's from his article in the book, "Major Problems of Marriage,their Prevention and Management" by Dr T. O. K. Osuafor.

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