It's a Blood thing


This week ill be discussed the genetic disorder Hemophilia A. What is Hemophilia A ? It is a bleeding disorder caused by a lack or decrease of clotting factor VIII. People with hemophilia A often, bleed longer than other people. There are three different types of Hemophilia A, mild, moderate, and severe.

(1)   People with Mild Hemophilia A generally experience bleeding only after serious injury, trauma or surgery. In many cases, mild hemophilia is not diagnosed until an injury, surgery or tooth extraction results in a period of prolonged bleeding.

(2)   People with moderate hemophilia A tend to have bleeding episodes after injuries. Bleeds that occur without obvious cause are called spontaneous bleeding episodes.

(3)   People with severe hemophilia A experience bleeding following an injury and may have frequent spontaneous bleeding episodes, often into their joints and muscles.



So how is the disorder inherited? The gene for hemophilia is carried on the X chromosome. Hemophilia is inherited in an X-linked recessive manner.  Females inherit two X chromosomes, one from their mother and one from their father (XX). Males inherit an X chromosome from their mother and a Y chromosome from their father (XY). That means if a son inherits an X chromosome carrying hemophilia from his mother, he will have hemophilia. It also means that fathers cannot pass hemophilia on to their sons.

Despite this being a genetic disorder, Hemophilia A is treatable. The main treatment for hemophilia is called replacement therapy. Concentrates of clotting factor VIII are slowly dripped or injected into a vein. These infusions help replace the clotting factor that's missing or low.

Link: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/hemophilia#inheritance

Comments

  1. JessyOctober 5, 2017 at 3:07 AM

    Hemophilia has always freaked me out, I didn't know there were different types of Hemophila A though and I wonder what causes these differences. I remember learning in Genetics that hemophilia is a sex-linked trait which is also something that I was curious about. I wonder if has been looked into why clotting factor regulated by the X chromosome and what genes on this chromosome affect this condition.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Caitlyn GaffneyOctober 5, 2017 at 1:33 PM

    I have little knowledge on Hemophilia, but I learned a lot from your post. I had no idea there were different types. It would be interesting to see what exactly changes on the gene for someone to go from having a mild to severe case before they're born. One of my friends sister was diagnosed with Hemophilia A, now I am going to have to ask her how severe hers is. Interesting post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 5, 2017 at 5:53 PM

    It scares me to think that some peoples body don't have the capability to clot blood. Its weird to think that something my body does naturally, somebodies cant. I had no idea that there were three different types. I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like to have severe Hemophilia. I would never leave my house.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownOctober 18, 2017 at 1:36 PM

    It played a big role in the Bolshevik revolution.

    ReplyDelete

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