dr. o'neil? >> bone marrow transplantation as well as gene therapy are the two main ways of curing someone of sickle-cell disease. >> uh-huh. >> do doctors test for this when babies are born and do they need to? >> right. so currently in the united states, all 50 states undergo newborn screenings. so sickle-cell disease is one of the screening tests that we do. >> uh-huh. >> the importance is identifying whether or not you do have sickle-cell disease or trait at the time that your child is born and possibly repeating that test by the time the child is a year of age to just confirm if it is sickle-cell trait or if your child does have sickle-cell disease. >> you can be tested to determine whether you have the trait, but you really may not know you have the disease unless you develop symptoms. talk a little more about what the symptoms are. >> so unfortunately, the signs and symptoms of a child with sickle-cell disease usually presents itself around 6 months of age. and it's the unfortunate hand-to