A patient is diagnosed with an inherited blood disorder. Medical reports indicate that the disease is an autosomal recessive trait characterised by the synthesis of too few globin molecules, making it a quantitative defect. Identify the specific disease described.

Step-by-step solution

Thalassemia and sickle-cell anaemia are both autosomal recessive blood disorders. However, thalassemia is a quantitative problem of synthesising too few globin molecules, whereas sickle-cell anaemia is a qualitative problem of synthesising an incorrectly functioning globin. Haemophilia is a sex-linked recessive blood disorder. Phenylketonuria is an autosomal recessive disorder, but it is an inborn error of amino acid metabolism, not a globin chain defect. Answer: Thalassemia