Why is hemophilia known as Christmas disease?
Hemophilia B is also known as Christmas disease. It is named after the first person to be diagnosed with the disorder in 1952, Stephen Christmas. As the second most common type of hemophilia, it occurs in about 1 in 25,000 male births and affects about 4,000 individuals in the United States.
Which hemophilia is Christmas disease?
Hemophilia B, also known as factor IX deficiency or Christmas disease, is the second most common type of hemophilia. The disorder was first reported in the medical literature in 1952 in a patient with the name of Stephen Christmas. The most famous family with hemophilia B was that of Queen Victoria of England.
What is hemophilia B Christmas?
Hemophilia B, also called factor IX (FIX) deficiency or Christmas disease, is a genetic disorder caused by missing or defective factor IX, a clotting protein. Although it is passed down from parents to children, about 1/3 of cases are caused by a spontaneous mutation, a change in a gene.
What are the symptoms of Christmas disease?
Symptoms include bleeding into joints and associated pain and swelling, blood in the urine and stool, bruising excessive bleeding following circumcision, gastrointestinal tract and urinary tract hemorrhage, nosebleeds, prolonged bleeding from cuts, tooth extraction and during surgery and at times spontaneous bleeding.
Can females have Christmas disease?
A female can inherit Christmas disease if both of her parents pass the faulty gene on to her, although it’s rare for a female to have two parents with the faulty gene.
Why is hemophilia bad?
In acquired hemophilia, the body produces antibodies (known as inhibitors) that attack clotting factors, most often factor VIII. Consequently, affected individuals develop complications associated with abnormal, uncontrolled bleeding into the muscles, skin and soft tissue and during surgery or following trauma.
What causes hemophilia?
Hemophilia is caused by a mutation or change, in one of the genes, that provides instructions for making the clotting factor proteins needed to form a blood clot. This change or mutation can prevent the clotting protein from working properly or to be missing altogether. These genes are located on the X chromosome.
Is Christmas disease curable?
With treatment, most people with Christmas disease are likely to lead normal lives. Since there’s no cure for the disease, it’s important to make sure you avoid situations in which excess bleeding could occur. You also can receive blood-clotting therapy before any surgery or after any injury.
Can hemophilia B be cured?
There is currently no cure for hemophilia. Effective treatments do exist, but they are expensive and involve lifelong injections several times per week to prevent bleeding.
Can you have both hemophilia A and B?
Rarely, hemophilia C (a deficiency of Factor XI) is encountered, but its effect on clotting is far less pronounced than A or B. Hemophilia A and B are inherited in an X-linked recessive genetic pattern and are therefore much more common in males.
Why is hemophilia called a royal disease?
Hemophilia has often been called The Royal Disease. This is because Queen Victoria, Queen of England from 1837 to 1901, was a carrier. Her eighth child, Leopold, had hemophilia and suffered from frequent hemorrhages.
How do you treat hemophilia?
Treatment of Hemophilia. The best way to treat hemophilia is to replace the missing blood clotting factor so that the blood can clot properly. This is typically done by injecting treatment products, called clotting factor concentrates, into a person’s vein.
What is the current treatment for hemophilia?
The current, most-used treatment for hemophilia A is factor replacement therapy. This is done by infusing (giving medication into a vein) a FVIII product into the affected person.
What are treatments for hemophilia?
Treatments for hemophilia include: Receiving clotting factors replacement therapy. Medication. Treatment for joint bleeding and other problems associated with hemophilia.