Ulcer treatment. Nurse in a Third World clinic uses a cotton swab on a leg ulcer of a child suffering from sickle cell anaemia. The child's mother is holding him down while the nurse cleans the wound. Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited blood disease, primarily in black people, that results in the formation of abnormal haemoglobin, the oxygen carrying pigment of blood. The red blood cells are therefore less able to transport oxygen around the body leading to a chronic haemolytic anaemia. The resulting ulcer, seen here, is similar to the ulcers that may occur in patients with diabetes. Treatment is by cleaning & dressing the wound.