Question

J and K want to have a baby, but they are a little concerned because they both have the sickle cell trait. They want to know what the possibility is that their child may actually have the disease.

1. Develop a Punnett square depicting the possibility that their offspring will have the trait and/or the disease.

2.How would the nurse interpret this Punnett square?

Answer 1

Sickle cell anemia is an autosomal recessive disorder. For the trait to occur, both of the alleles in an individual should be recessive. Parents who both have sickle cell anemia will have 100% results for their children to carry the disease. The results can be depicted from the following punnet square:

s s

s ss ss

s ss ss

The results will be interpreted by the nurse as having 100% chance for the parents to have the child born with sickle cell as both the parents carry the disease which is autosomal recessive.