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Symptoms of Homozygous C Disease

Homozygous C disease is a blood disorder that results in mild hemolytic anemia. The disease often does not present obvious symptoms and is typically not diagnosed until adulthood.

  1. Anemia

    • Homozygous C disease may cause mild anemia. With anemia red blood cell count decreases, as the cells are destroyed and lost from the blood stream.

    Symptoms

    • People with homozygous C disease often experience musculoskeletal or joint pain. They also may get jaundice or enlarged spleens.

    Hemolysis

    • Hemolysis breaks open red blood cells and releases the hemoglobin into the surrounding fluid. Hemolysis is often experienced with homozygous C disease and in prolonged cases the condition may produce pigmented gallstones.

    Risk Factors

    • The primary risk factor for homozygous C disease is race--the condition occurs most often in African ancestry--and heredity. If your parents have the disease, you are more likely to have it.

    Sickle Cell Anemia

    • Hemoglobin C disease is also a cause of a rare form of sickle-cell disease.

    Heredity

    • Homozygous C disease results from the bi-parental inheritance of the gene that encodes for hemoglobin C.

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