Hemophilia

1324 Words3 Pages

Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a hereditary bleeding disorder. (1, 36)(2, 759)(3, 529)(5, ____) (6) (7) (8) (10) (12) (13) (14) Hemophilia is a disease where the blood does not clot normally. (1, 36)(3, 529)(2, 759)(5,____)(6)(10)(13) “Hemo” means blood and “philla” means a tendency towards.(6)(7) In most people when they get a cut the platelets plug the hole and release chemicals which attract proteins and activate proteins found in the blood that are known as clotting factors.(6) The proteins mix with the platelets and create fibres; the fibres then make the clot stronger and stop the bleeding.(6) Hemophilia is a deficiency in one of the 12 blood clotting factors. (2, 759)(3, 529)(5, )(6)(8)(12)When blood doesn’t clot as fast as it is supposed to heavy blood loss can occur as well as body organs and tissues can be damaged and can result in permanent injury or death.(13) There are two different types of Hemophilia this was discovered in 1950s.(6)(10)(13)(14) The first type is Hemophilia A which is a deficiency in Clotting factor VIII and accounts for about 80% of all cases. (6)(10)(13) (14) The second type is Hemophilia B (Christmas disease) which is a deficiency in Clotting factor IX it occurs in 1 in 34,500 males. (6)(10)(13)(14) Also there are three levels of severity of hemophilia. (6)(13)If a person produces 1% of a normal level of clotting factor or less then they have severe Hemophilia. (6)(13) If they produce 2% to 5% of the normal level they have moderate Hemophilia, someone who produces 6% to 50% of the normal level they have mild hemophilia. (6)(13) If you have mild hemophilia u might bleed excessively only once in a while, while someone with severe hemophilia is more prone to bleeding excessively often. (6)(14) Most people with hemophilia discover the condition at a very young age. (6) But, sometimes a person with very mild hemophilia will not discover it until they have a minor surgery; it’s discovered in the blood tests that the doctors perform before the surgery. (6)

Hemophilia is caused by a defective gene on the X chromosome. (4)(5,____)(6)(7)(8)(13)The Y chromosome has no genes for clotting factors so it is not affected. A boy who has the defective X chromosome will be a haemophiliac. (5, ____) (6)(13) (14) Where as a girl with the defective X chromosome will be a carrier of hemophilia. It is extremely rare for a girl to inherit hemophilia on both X chromosomes.

Open Document