ABSTRACT
Symptoms of moderate to severe anaemia vary depending on the child’s age but include exertional dyspnoea, palpitations, easy fatigability, failure to thrive and poor weight gain. Signs of anaemia include pallor, pale conjunctiva and nail beds, a flow murmur, tachycardia and in extreme cases signs of heart failure. Children with beta thalassaemia minor or beta thalassaemia trait have one normal beta globin allele and one beta globin thalassaemia allele. A number of chronic diseases can cause anaemia for different reasons including hypoactivity of the bone marrow, poor response to erythropoetin or shortened red blood cell survival. Although public health interventions have removed many sources of lead from the environment, children can still be exposed to harmful levels usually in the home. In considering normocytic anaemias, a useful approach is to look at the reticulocyte count. An elevated reticulocyte count indicates effective erthyropoeisis, with a low or normal reticulocyte count indicating ineffective erythropoeisis.
