地中海貧血 thalassemia affects quite many Chinese and it’s due to genetic disorder. I’m thalassemia minor but I didn’t know until I was 21 as it doesn’t affect my daily life. I had the blood test as my aunty (姑姑)found out (when she was 50) that she is minor thalassemia and she asked the whole family to run for a test. It’s crucial for you and your partner to have blood check if you want to have babies. If you and your partner both are thalassemia minor, then your baby has 25% chance to inherit the disorder gene and become thalassemia major which will affect their life expectancy.