What is hemophilia?
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There are several diseases and disorders that can impact the circulatory system. One of the most drastic and devastatingly terrifying one is hemophilia, a disorder in the blood.
Haemophilia, commonly referred to as hemophilia, is an inherited blood disease. Thus meaning that it is passed down to children from parents through their genes. It is a life threatening condition in which there is insufficient clotting of proteins in the blood. If one where to get the simplest paper cut, those with hemophilia are at risk of dying from internal bleeding. Hemophiliacs don't bleed more profusely than others, however they bleed for a longer time than usual. This poses a great deal of danger towards those who are accident prone, one small mistake can lead to devastating and life-threatening results. It usually occurs in males, about 1 in 5,000 male children are born with hemophilia each year.
Those born with hemophilia have little to no clotting proteins, 13 in total, in their blood. The proteins found in the blood of those with normal blood clotting is missing and therefore takes longer for cuts to clot. These proteins have to work with platelets to help the blood clot. Platelets are very important in the process of clotting, and are located in bone-marrow. When blood vessels have been damaged, platelets work together to stick to one another to plug cuts. The clotting proteins are used to help stick these platelets together, without them, platelets are unable to efficiently stick together and fail to clot the blood, thus causing those with hemophilia to bleed for longer periods.
Hemophilia A, B and C are the three types of hemophilia. Those with A are missing or have low levels of the clotting factor VIII (8), and those with B are missing the clotting protein IX (9). Hemophilia A is most common in people, in fact studies show that about 8 out of 10 people who have hemophilia have type A. Hemophilia C, the most rarest of the 3, is caused by a deficiency of clotting factor XI in the blood.
Although hemophilia is an inherited disease, in rare cases it can be developed during one's lifetime. This can occur as your body may from proteins that actually attack the clotting factors in the bloodstream. This prevents them from actually clotting blood. However as previously mentioned this occurs in very rare cases.
The video below provides an in-depth analysis of what hemophilia is, and explores the life of an individual with hemophilia A, meanwhile interviewing Dr. Mark Winter, and expert in hemophilia.
Haemophilia, commonly referred to as hemophilia, is an inherited blood disease. Thus meaning that it is passed down to children from parents through their genes. It is a life threatening condition in which there is insufficient clotting of proteins in the blood. If one where to get the simplest paper cut, those with hemophilia are at risk of dying from internal bleeding. Hemophiliacs don't bleed more profusely than others, however they bleed for a longer time than usual. This poses a great deal of danger towards those who are accident prone, one small mistake can lead to devastating and life-threatening results. It usually occurs in males, about 1 in 5,000 male children are born with hemophilia each year.
Those born with hemophilia have little to no clotting proteins, 13 in total, in their blood. The proteins found in the blood of those with normal blood clotting is missing and therefore takes longer for cuts to clot. These proteins have to work with platelets to help the blood clot. Platelets are very important in the process of clotting, and are located in bone-marrow. When blood vessels have been damaged, platelets work together to stick to one another to plug cuts. The clotting proteins are used to help stick these platelets together, without them, platelets are unable to efficiently stick together and fail to clot the blood, thus causing those with hemophilia to bleed for longer periods.
Hemophilia A, B and C are the three types of hemophilia. Those with A are missing or have low levels of the clotting factor VIII (8), and those with B are missing the clotting protein IX (9). Hemophilia A is most common in people, in fact studies show that about 8 out of 10 people who have hemophilia have type A. Hemophilia C, the most rarest of the 3, is caused by a deficiency of clotting factor XI in the blood.
Although hemophilia is an inherited disease, in rare cases it can be developed during one's lifetime. This can occur as your body may from proteins that actually attack the clotting factors in the bloodstream. This prevents them from actually clotting blood. However as previously mentioned this occurs in very rare cases.
The video below provides an in-depth analysis of what hemophilia is, and explores the life of an individual with hemophilia A, meanwhile interviewing Dr. Mark Winter, and expert in hemophilia.