sickle cell trait

sickle cell trait

n.

A hereditary condition, usually harmless and without symptoms, in which an individual carries only one mutated hemoglobin gene for sickle cell anemia. The sickle cell trait confers resistance to some forms of fatal malaria.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sick′le cell` trait`

n.

the usu. asymptomatic hereditary condition that occurs when a person inherits from only one parent the abnormal hemoglobin gene characteristic of sickle cell anemia.

[1925–30]

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