Ask a doctor - Is sickle cell sexually contagious?

Q. Is sickle cell sexually contagious?

Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.

Answered by Seconmedic Expert

Cynthia was a young woman living in a small rural town. She had always been healthy and strong, but recently she had started to feel ill more often than usual. At first, Cynthia thought it was just the flu or something similar, but as time passed her symptoms only seemed to get worse.

Her family doctor tested her for various illnesses and diseases, but nothing came back positive until he tested for sickle cell anemia. To his surprise, Cynthia did indeed have the condition - which is usually hereditary rather than contagious - and he couldn't explain why this would be the case with someone so young and healthy like Cynthia.

The doctors were baffled by this strange occurrence since they knew that sickle cell isn't typically spread through sexual contact or any other kind of physical contact between people. They ran further tests on Cynthia's blood samples to try to figure out what could have caused her sickness, but all their results came up empty handed once again.

Finally after much deliberation amongst themselves they concluded that somehow in some way unknown to them at this point in time; Sickle Cell Anemia was somehow being transferred from one person directly into another person through sexual contact! This theory however was not backed up by any scientific evidence whatsoever-it remained speculation only - yet it made perfect sense why no one else in town seemed to suffer from such an illness unlike poor Cynthia who had it without anyone around her having it too!