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Hard lessons learned about Plancher and sickle-cell trait

By Mark Fainaru-Wada
ESPN

Friday, October 31, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- Nearly four decades ago, the U.S. military confronted the dangers of an inherited condition known as sickle-cell trait. During a four-year span in the early 1970s, one Air Force cadet died and three others collapsed while participating in basic training. A military study revealed that applicants with sickle-cell trait were 30 times more likely to die during basic training. The Air Force even went so far as to temporarily ban recruits with the condition. About 25 year later, ...

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