The Igbo people of Nigeria called them Ogbanje-malevolent children destined to be lazy and die and be reborn repeatedly. Particular families were plagued by such children who usually died before their 10th birthday. Belief in Ogbanje is centuries old, but a little more than 100 years ago, a less ethereal explanation for the Ogbanje was found. Walter Clement Noel was of African descent and living in America. He had anaemia and chest pains, and in 1910 doctors Ernest Irons and James Herrick looked at his blood under a microscope. What they saw-sickle-shaped red blood cells-was published as the first report of sickle-cell disease.
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