Sickle cell disease is a genetic abnormality passed from parents to children. A child gets sickle cell disease by inheriting 2 sickle cell genes, one from each parent. Sickle cell disease usually appears during childhood and is more common in people living in areas affected with malaria. When a child inherits the gene from just one parent, the child has sickle cell trait, which means that you do not have the disease but you are a carrier and could pass the gene on to your children.
Attribution: Straight Talk Foundation