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What is Haemophilia and its factors?

World Haemophilia Day is celebrated to create awareness regarding this disorder. It is basically an inherited bleeding disorder. This disease is transferred from parents to their children through parent’s genes.

What happens in Haemphilia?

Haemophilia is inherited bleeding disorder that results in bleeding for quite a long time after any injury or surgery. It approximately affects 1 out of 10000 people around the world. Most of the people with haemophilia are still inadequately treated which lead to chronic pain and limited movement due to bleeds in the joints.

Haemophilia is basically a X-linked disorder (which means the disorder is located on X chromosome) which affect male birth whereas female act as a carrier of Haemophilia.

Types of Haemophilia:

  1. Haemophilia A
  2. Haemophilia B

Haemophilia A:

Haemophilia A is caused by missing factor VIII protein. Factor VIII (FVIII) is an essential blood-clotting protein, also known as anti-hemophilic factor (AHF). This protein circulates in the bloodstream in an inactive form, bound to another molecule called von Willebrand factor, until an injury that damages blood vessels occurs. Haemophilia A has three stages in common: mild, moderate, severe which totally depends on the ratio of viii clotting protein in blood. People diagnosed with Haemophilia A bleed longer than others both internally and externally. Women often experience heavy menstruation  which can cause hemorrhage after birth.

Haemophilia B :

Haemophilia B is caused by missing factor IX protein. Factor IX is a protein produced naturally in the body. It helps the blood form clots to stop bleeding Haemphilia B is about four times as rare as Haemophilia A.

1 IN 10000 IS BORN WITH HAEMOPHILIA A.
1 IN 50000 IS BORN WITH HAEMOPHILIA B.

How is Haemophilia diagnosed?

When we know the family history of Haemophilia, it’s easy to identify females who carry the Haemophilia gene. Now there are many options available for the screening of prenatal diagnosis to collect information on fetal status. Haemophilia tests include baseline screening tests, which measure the coagulation time of blood called PT, APTT. There are special blood tests which can tell the type of Haemophilia, knowing which type is important because the treatments are different.

How Haemophilia is Treated:

The main treatment for haemophilia is called Factor Replaced Therapy, in which the deficient factor is replaced. These factors can be collected from blood plasma donors. They are given to the patient by an injection through a vein directly in to the blood.