Hemophilia: A Blood Disorder

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Hemophilia is a problem with the blood in a person that causes them to bleed not any faster than normal, but they often bleed for a longer period. Their blood is missing the clotting factor (a protein in the bloodstream that works to control bleeding). Hemophilia is quite rare; roughly 1 in every 10,000 persons are born with it. Rarely, hemophilia can be an acquired disease which just means a person is not born with it, but will develop it during their lifetime. This rarity occurs when a person's immune system forms antibodies that attack the clotting factor in the blood. The entire antibody population fights against the blood to prevent the clotting factors from working properly.

Hemophilia A, the most occurring form of this disease, is also known as factor VIII deficiency. It is mainly an inherited condition, which occurs when the protein that is needed to form the blood clots is no longer there. In about 30% of the cases, there is no family history of knowledge of the disorder and the condition, hemophilia, is the result of a ‘spontaneous gene mutation’. ‘Roughly one in every 5,000 males born in the United States has hemophilia and can happen to people of all races and economic groups equally.’ (www.whatishemophilia.com)

Small cuts are usually not an issue, but if a more traumatic event occurs, serious problems could arise. There are 3 different levels of hemophilia, mild, moderate and severe. People who have mild hemophilia have between 6% and 49% of the normal clotting factor. Those who suffer from moderate hemophilia have roughly 1& to 5% of the clotting factor and make up about 15% of society that suffers from hemophilia. Those who have severe hemophilia have less than 1% of the clotting factor and make up about 60% of...

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...cdc.gov/ncbddd/hemophilia/facts.html

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