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Alejandra Robles
Mrs. Odowd
Anatomy
7 March 2015
Disease
A disease is a disorder or dysfunction in an organ, part, structure, or system of the body.
Diseases can be genetically passed down, or because of developmental errors. Some diseases
may be prevented and others, like genetic diseases, cannot. Diseases vary from dysfunctions in
the blood, like sickle cell disease, or problems with sugar levels like diabetes, which is very, very
common in the United States because of all the obese Americans. Many different types of
diseases affect the everyday lives of people all over the world.
Sickle cell anemia is very painful. Although it is rare, it unfortunately has affected over
200k people in the United States. A normal red blood cell is donut shaped and contains
hemoglobin which has iron. In this disease, the cells are deformed and are crescent shaped.
The hemoglobin strands in the cell are abnormal, causing them to be crescent shaped. Sickle
cells often block blood flow, which causes pain and also organ damage, and raises risk of
infection. This moves away from homeostasis because the red blood cells in the bone marrow
cannot reproduce fast enough to replace the dying sickle cells, which have a lifespan of only 1020 days.
The disease attacking many Americans in the United States is diabetes, affecting 29.1
million people. The cells of someone who has diabetes do not react to insulin, or the body does
not produce enough insulin. A person is more at risk to diabetes if they are overweight, obese,
eating unhealthy, and not getting enough exercise. Researchers say even one can of soda a
day can risk your chances of getting diabetes by 22 percent. Anyone who does not take care of
themselves can be prone to getting this disease. Pregnant women may also get diabetes called
gestational diabetes, but after giving birth the diabetes goes away. The older we get, the more

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likely we are to get diabetes. African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, Native
Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans are the races that tend to be more obese,
opening up more risks towards diabetes.
Leukemia is another disease, which is cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue. It
causes a huge amount of abnormal blood cells to be produced, and enter the bloodstream.
Leukemia can be genetic. Leukemia affects white blood cells (leukocytes), making them
abnormal, causing them not to do their job. These white blood cells can no longer protect the
body from any infections or diseases that enter it. It can also cause anemia, lowering the count
of red blood cells, having less iron in the body. It affects over 3,000 young Americans a year, but
fortunately with treatment has cured many.
In my family, we have had a few incidents where someone has gotten cancer detected.
We all eat as healthy as we can, eating foods that help our body. As a track athlete, I am more
careful with what I eat, and get a lot of exercise. With care, we can prevent some of the
diseases out in the world.

Works Cited
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disease>.
"What Is Sickle Cell Anemia?" - NHLBI, NIH. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

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<http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca>.
Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/>.
"Age, Race, Gender & Family History." American Diabetes Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar.
2015. <http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/lower-your-risk/nonmodifiables.html>.
"Leukemia." National Cancer Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/leukemia>.