[Hemoglobin disorders].

Hemoglobin disorders such as the thalassemias and sickle cell disease have been present in Germany since the arrival of immigrants from the eastern Mediterranean region, Africa, and Asia in the 1950s. These hereditary diseases not only require very complex treatment, but also render screening for asymptomatic carriers necessary, in order to prevent the birth of an affected child in the next generation. Pediatricians, internists, general practitioners, and gynecologists have to rise to this challenge.