[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17970]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 685--COMMEMORATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
        DISCOVERY OF SICKLE CELL DISEASE BY DR. JAMES B. HERRICK

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. Cochran) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 685

       Whereas sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder that 
     affects red blood cells leading to significant morbidity and 
     mortality in nearly 80,000 people in the United States;
       Whereas sickle cell disease causes blockage of small blood 
     vessels which can lead to tissue damage resulting in severe 
     pain, infection, or stroke;
       Whereas scientific breakthroughs over the past century have 
     improved the lives of millions of people suffering from 
     sickle cell disease;
       Whereas scientific advances in treatment for sickle cell 
     disease began with Dr. James B. Herrick, an attending 
     physician at Presbyterian Hospital and professor of medicine 
     at Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois, who discovered 
     sickle cell disease and published the first recorded case in 
     Western medical literature in November of 1910 in the journal 
     Annals of Internal Medicine;
       Whereas the hemoglobin mutation responsible for sickle cell 
     disease was discovered by Linus Pauling in 1950;
       Whereas penicillin was proven to be effective as a 
     preventative strategy against pneumococcal infection in 1986, 
     sparing patients with sickle cell disease from contracting 
     this particularly dangerous infection;
       Whereas in 1995, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood 
     Institute reported the first effective drug treatment for 
     adults with severe sickle cell disease;
       Whereas the anticancer drug hydroxyurea was found to reduce 
     the frequency of painful crises of sickle cell disease and 
     patients taking the drug needed fewer blood transfusions;
       Whereas in 1996, bone marrow transplantation was discovered 
     to improve the course of sickle cell disease for select 
     patients;
       Whereas in 1997, blood transfusions were found to help 
     prevent stroke in patients with sickle cell disease;
       Whereas the introduction of pneumococcal vaccine in 2000 
     revolutionized the prevention of lethal infections in 
     children and adults with sickle cell disease;
       Whereas the first mouse model demonstrating the usefulness 
     of genetic therapy for sickle cell disease was developed in 
     2001;
       Whereas in 2007, scientists from the University of Alabama 
     at Birmingham and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
     developed an animal model for curing sickle cell disease;
       Whereas improvements in treatments have substantially 
     improved quality of life for patients with sickle cell 
     disease and led to an increase in overall life expectancy 
     from 14 years in 1973 to the mid to late 40s in 2010; and
       Whereas the National Institutes of Health sponsored a 
     symposium on November 16 and 17, 2010, to commemorate the 
     100th anniversary of Dr. James Herrick's initial description 
     of sickle cell disease: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the contributions of the biomedical research 
     community to the improvement in diagnosis and treatment of 
     sickle cell disease; and
       (2) commemorates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of 
     sickle cell disease in November 1910.

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