A great deal of controversy continues to surround sickle cell trait and its association with stress-related morbidity and sudden death. Most of the death mechanisms are related to the biological consequences of diffuse microvascular occlusion due to sickling, although a significant number of such sudden deaths remain unexplained even after thorough autopsy. We present a case of unexpected death in a young male with undiagnosed sickle cell trait, who met with a road traffic accident and was diagnosed only after the postmortem. The death was attributed to vaso-occlusive sickle cell crisis secondary to stress and infection.

Key word: Sickle cell trait; Sudden death; Vaso-occlusive crisis.