Alpha Thalassemia Trait

My wife is 4 months pregnant and was recommended to get a Genetic test to rule out alpha thalassemia trait as her CBC revealed her MCV was around 78. We just received the results from John Hopkins and were told that it is positive, ie, she has the trait. Also I (husband) had my hemoglobin test done and have a Hgb variant (not sure which one). So what does this mean for our expected baby? What are the chances of him/her getting any "disease"? The doc (specialist) is saying he needs to further research this and compare to some statistics. Any help would be useful. Thank you

[annie f.]

If I were you the first thing that I would do is do some research on the tests that you had done and their accuracy levels.  Did she have an amnio?  My understanding from a friend who used to work in a hospital is that some of the genetic testing that they do is very prone to false positive results.  I would be wary of starting to assign tragedy to your situation without checking into things a bit more.  And I wouldn't necessarily ask the doctor about the accuracy, I would do independent research.  Hope it all goes well.