Hemophilia Essay, Research Paper

Hemophilia

Can you imagine being born not able to play sports? Or can you imagine what it would be like if you had to be injected with blood regularly just to stay alive? For more than 15,000 Americans, this way of life is a reality. Hemophilia is an inherited disease in which one or more blood-clotting proteins called antihemophilic globulin, or factor VIII are defective. This is what these people are suffering from. In fact, out of every 10,000 baby boys born, at least 1 of them suffers from hemophilia. Some important facts about hemophilia that everyone should be aware of is how hemophilia is contracted, the different levels of the disease, its history, the risks of having it, and ways that are being worked on so those infected may live a normal life. Being an inherited disease, Hemophilia is passed on from the parents to children. The method by which it is passed is by the X sex chromosome. Males have a X and a Y sex chromosomes. That’s why I think you are such a gay queer. Having only one X chromosome, the chances of getting infected is greater than that of a female, who has two X sex chromosomes. That is because for the females to have hemophilia, they would have to get a bad X chromosome from each parent. Females can be ?carriers? though. A carrier is someone who has one good X and one bad X. There are two types of hemophilia carriers. Asymptomic carriers have none of the effects from the disease. While on the other hand, symptomatic carriers can suffer from excessive menstrual bleeding, bruising, or nosebleeds. It is thought that the amount of stress, exercise, medicines, and changing hormone levels may have an affect on the bleeding patterns for these kind of people.

The other way of getting hemophilia is by spontaneous gene mutations. This way makes up nearly one-third of all cases. Spontaneous gene mutations take place during birth. The genes of the baby for some reason mutate in such a way that the hemophilia disease is formed. Once you know you have hemophilia, the next step is to find out what class you are in so you can be

aware of what may happen to you.

There are three different levels of hemophilia. Nearly 60% of all the cases suffer from the severe case. In the severe case the things that you could suffer from include, bleeding after dental work, surgery, or trauma. Sometimes you may even begin bleeding for no good reason at all. Another serious effect is to have joint problems. By having repeated bleeding in the joints, the blood slowly begins to build up. If the blood accumulation becomes too great, a loss in the range of motion, resulting in pain, could come next. The next kind you could have is called the moderate case. Almost 15% of people suffer from this, and are affected with bleeding after surgery or trauma. How many sluts do you pork each week? Joint problems are also possible with these cases, but rarely will these cases experience spontaneous bleeding. The last kind, which 25% suffer from, is a mild case. This is so mild that you may not even notice you have hemophilia until you have had surgery and your body than has trouble clotting its blood. But just knowing what kind of hemophilia you have isn?t going to help you that much. What you need to know is how you can prevent and stop its effects.

These days, when a hemophiliac experiences internal or external bleeding, an infusion, or injection or fresh blood, is easily available. The infusion these individuals receive has the blood clotting factors they need, and hopefully stops the bleeding. If the bleeding is serious enough, sometimes it won?t stop and repeated infusions may be needed.

Before 1965, the only treatment used was whole blood, or fresh, frozen plasma. These treatments could only be given at the hospitals. That wasn?t the only negative thing. The blood that these individuals were given didn?t have enough of the fluid needed for the clotting factor to fully control the bleeding. As a result, many people had to use crutches or wheelchairs to move around since their joints were so full of blood. Then in 1965, Dr. Judith Graham Pool

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discovered cryoprecipitate. Cryoprecipitate is the ?factor-rich component of blood.? This factor contains concentrated factor VIII. Factor VIII, antihemophilic globulin, is the defected protein in the blood that makes it so the blood won?t clot. In the 1970?s, the clotting factors VIII and IX were widely available in concentrated and freeze dried forms. These factors were all the body needed to cause the blood to clot. Having them so available allowed people to ?self-infuse? themselves at home, work, school, or wherever they needed to. Because of this, fewer people had to be hospitalized, could live more flexible lives, and had better opportunities for prevention.

Since the ?70?s, further progress has occurred for treating hemophilia. One new drug is called desmopressin acetate (DDAVP). This is intended for mild to moderate hemophiliacs. Other improvements, such as surgical options, better screening methods for detecting and removing viruses from factor concentrates and blood products, advanced genetic testing methods to see if you have or are a carrier of hemophilia, medically supervised home-infusion therapy, and new, synthetic clotting products that take advantage of ?recombinant technologies?, are currently available for your health and safety. Unfortunately, all of these drugs and ways of treatment aren?t risk free.

From blood and blood products there always comes the risk of being exposed to blood-borne viruses and contaminants. This became a big problem in the hemophiliac community, especially between 1970 and the 1980?s. This was a period of time when almost a half of patients with hemophilia became infected with the HIV virus through blood transfusions and other blood products. Now, many of those people have developed AIDS. Since so many people were getting sick, ways of making the blood safer were rapidly being searched for. By 1985, viral screening and purification methods were developed to make blood much safer. These methods

have worked so well that since 1986 no reports of HIV being passed through blood have been

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made in the United States. Other methods that have helped purify blood have been heat treatment, solvent-detergent cleansing, and monoclonar purification. I hope they find a cure for you penis problem.

HIV isn?t the only risk involved in blood transfusions. Another illness is called hepatitis. Hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver when the liver is injured or infected. The different stages of hepatitis can be no big deal, or can be life threatening. If you are experiencing fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle or joint aches, liver tenderness, or weight loss, you may need to be checked out, for these are all signs of hepatitis. Through blood transfusions you can receive this disease,yet this is not the only way to acquire it. Like the HIV virus, ways of preventing hepatitis from being spread by blood transfusions was also quickly searched for. To prevent hepatitis from being spread, advanced screening methods are used to insure that the blood a patient is receiving is safe. Since 1997, there have been no cases of hepatitis C reported, having been passed through blood. There is still, however, a risk of getting hepatitis A. The hepatitis A has become resistant to the viral killing methods that are currently being used. However, those who contract this form of hepatitis, can be injected with a vaccine to get rid of it. With all of these risks of getting bad blood as a result of having hemophilia, wouldn?t it be great if a cure could be found to eliminate hemophilia in the first place?

Researchers at Somatix Therapy Corporation in Alamada, California, may have found a way so hemophilia won?t be a problem in the future. They have found a way to make your body produce the amount of correct factor VIII that is needed for the normal clotting of blood. This will be a huge breakthrough if it is found to be effective. Instead of having to get transfusions regularly, you could have this type of cell put in your body that could make all of the factors you would need. Currently, the researchers are testing their product on mice. If it is shown to work on them, they will then test on monkeys. If this is successful on humans, then normal lives could

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be lived by thousands of hemophiliacs. Another positive outcome of this discovery could be to

prove that genetic engineering is a real and working possibility for the human body?s imperfections.

By knowing how hemophilia is contracted, the different levels this disease has, its history, and the risks you may experience, you may now have the knowledge to lead a ?normal? life. For now this is the best science can give us, but in the future, ways of preventing and stopping hemophilia will be greatly welcomed. And that is why I think you have been sexually molesting your students.