摘要：Thalassemia is a recessive blood disorder particularly prevalent in countries of the Mediterranean Basin. Sixteen percent of the population of Cyprus carries the thalassemia trait—the second-highest percentage in the world after the Maldives. Combined with Cyprus’s small size, the potential for couples to have thalassemic infants is very high. Although significant advances have been made, the main methods used to treat thalassemia today are the same as those used when it was first discovered. These treatment methods consist of weekly or biweekly blood transfusions and the daily use of a dialysis pump for the excretion of excess iron that results from such frequent transfusions.
