SIGNIFICANCE OF GENOTYPE TEST:
Genotype test is the test done to determine the GENE TYPE of an individual.
Fundamentally, an individual can have AA, AS or SS GENE TYPE (a.k.a GENOTYPE). There are other less popular genotypes like the AC and the SC genotypes.
Genotype test is significant or important because if two AS individuals marry each other, they stand the chance of having one or more SS children. SS simply means sickle cell. Sickle cell is a genetic disease. A child having sickle cell disease is a burden to his/her family.
The child often has health crises and may need blood transfusion from time to time.
Hence, no couple would want to give birth to an SS child.
It is therefore wise and mandatory that every two individuals intending to get married should do genotype test in a registered medical laboratory before they get married. This is to find out if their genotypes are compatible for marriage.
At CHDL, we pride ourselves as a genotype test center of excellence. We have helped several couples who have an SS child to unravel the mystery behind their child's chronic health challenge.
In one case, it turned out on our testing that the mother of the child who believed she was AA before she got married was actually AS just like her husband. This shows she got a wrong genotype result from the private Laboratory where she did the test previously.
Another case involved a poor couple who didn't do genotype test before they got married. They complained of having had four children each of which died in childhood. And their fifth child of about six months old was sick and they were scared he might die too.
On testing at CHDL, it turned out that the parents were both AS genotype and the little child was SS. We advised them accordingly.
We therefore advocate at CHDL, that no two individuals should get married in this information age and digital world without first performing their genotype test in a reliable Medical Laboratory.
It is instructive to confirm the genotype test result in a government or mission hospital if you first did it in a private Medical Laboratory.
The implications of a wrong genotype test result are so far-reaching to approach it carelessly, in a hurry or shabbily. Make sure it's repeated in a government hospital or mission hospital especially if your partner's genotype is confirmed to be AS and you are not very confident of the source of your own genotype result.
To the health and happiness of your family!
CHDL...a genotype test center of excellence.
