According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hemophilia affects 1 in 5,000 male births which factor out to be about 400 babies born with hemophilia each year [3]. Hemophilia is classified as one of the oldest and longest lifelong bleeding disorders that are inherited, meaning passed down from parents to their children. This disorder occurs when the protein in the blood or platelets that assists the blood to clot is absent or not functioning properly, resulting in extended bleeding. There are several types of clotting factors. These proteins work with platelets to help the blood clot. Platelets are small blood cell fragments that form in the bone marrow—a sponge-like tissue in the bones. Platelets play a major role in blood clotting.
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Females have two X-chromosomes and males have one X and one Y chromosome. Females are the main carriers of hemophilia, which results in mostly males inheriting the disorder because they have a 50% chance of inheriting an affected X-chromosome from the mother [6]. Females rarely inherit hemophilia because she would need to inherit the mutated genes from both X-chromosomes. This means a female would have to inherit an affected X-chromosome from her mother and an affected X-chromosome from a hemophiliac father [6]. Thanks to the understanding of the mutations and the heredity patterns, research on hemophilia is successfully being …show more content…
In order to lower the amount of hospital visits a home therapy was developed. The treatment is expensive and could not be administered at home until the 1970s and the home treatment is still not available worldwide [2]. The home based treatment lead to an increase in deadly viral infections like Hepatitis C and HIV and in turn increased the mortality rate [2]. The treatment has become safer since then and new research is attempting to make treatment less costly and more widely available. Another option found was Desmopressin, which does not risk the spread of disease as it can be given as a nasal
Females have two X-chromosomes and males have one X and one Y chromosome. Females are the main carriers of hemophilia, which results in mostly males inheriting the disorder because they have a 50% chance of inheriting an affected X-chromosome from the mother [6]. Females rarely inherit hemophilia because she would need to inherit the mutated genes from both X-chromosomes. This means a female would have to inherit an affected X-chromosome from her mother and an affected X-chromosome from a hemophiliac father [6]. Thanks to the understanding of the mutations and the heredity patterns, research on hemophilia is successfully being …show more content…
In order to lower the amount of hospital visits a home therapy was developed. The treatment is expensive and could not be administered at home until the 1970s and the home treatment is still not available worldwide [2]. The home based treatment lead to an increase in deadly viral infections like Hepatitis C and HIV and in turn increased the mortality rate [2]. The treatment has become safer since then and new research is attempting to make treatment less costly and more widely available. Another option found was Desmopressin, which does not risk the spread of disease as it can be given as a nasal