KATHMANDU: As many as 40 persons have tested positive for sickle cell in two wards of Dangisharan rural municipality of Dang district.

Drona Oli, a health assistant at the Shrigau Health Center, said out of 241 people who underwent  sickle cell tests in ward no. 4 and 5 of the rural municipality, 40 have been diagnosed with the disease.

With this, the number of sickle cell positive patients has reached 118 in the rural municipality. As many as 715 people belonging to Tharu community of the rural municipality were examined.

The test will be carried out in wards 1 and 2 on Saturday. Under the Chief Minister’s Rural Development Program, sickle cell anemia health camp has been operating focusing on the Tharu community.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person’s parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia (SCA). It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin found in red blood cells.