Everything you need to know about blood disorders
American trypanosomiasis, also known as Chagas disease, affects millions of people throughout the Americas. Carlos Chagas first described this disease in 1911 when he discovered the parasite in the blood of a Brazilian child with fever, lymphadenopathy, and anemia. Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan hemoflagellate, is the parasite that causes this disease. When humans are infected, the parasite can cause acute […]
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Malaria is due to infection with specific protozoa of the Plasmodium genus. It is transmitted by the bite of an infective female Anopheles mosquito. The malaria parasite undergoes a single sexual cycle in the mosquito and recurrent asexual cycles, with the production of sexual forms (gametocytes) in man. Clinical features: The initial incubation period of malaria is 9-11 days. Malaria symptoms include […]
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Infection by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) first appears as a transient flu-like illness. There then follows a variable period of good health which may last many years. The HIV virus has tropism for lymphocytes expressing CD4 antigen (T helper cells). HIV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). It can also be spread by contact with infected blood or from mother […]
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Infectious Mononucleosis (Glandular Fever), also known as mono, is due to infection by the Ebstein-Barr herpes Virus (EBV). Background: The disease was first described in the 1920s. The virus spreads through saliva, which is why it’s sometimes called “kissing disease“. the incubation period for mono is four to eight weeks. Using contaminated items, such as drinking glasses or toothbrushes, can spread the […]
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Introduction In the chapter of Miscellaneous Red Cell Abnormalities, we will discuss some of the commonly seen red blood cell abnormalities. Adult human bone marrow synthesizes 4 X 1014 molecules of hemoglobin every second. Heme and globin chains (alpha and beta) in adults are manufactured in separate cell compartments—mitochondria and cytoplasm, respectively—and then combined in the cytoplasm in an amazingly accurate manner. Four major […]
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Hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) used to be a major cause of fetal loss and death among newborn babies. The first description of HDN is thought to be in 1609 by a French midwife who delivered twins—one baby was swollen and died soon after birth, the other baby developed jaundice and died several days later. For the next […]
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Sickle cell disease (HbS) is a severe hereditary form of anemia in which a mutated form of hemoglobin distorts the red blood cells (RBC’s) into a crescent shape at low oxygen levels. Sickle cell disease (HbS) is commonest among those of African descent. In this disease, a single base mutation in the β-globin gene leads to the substitution of valine for […]
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What is Thalassemia? Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen. The disorder results in excessive destruction of red blood cells, which leads to anemia. In thalassemias, there is an abnormality of one or more of the globin genes leading to […]
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Pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD) is one of the most common enzymatic defects of the RBCs, it manifests clinically as hemolytic anemia that can range from mild to severe. There are many different types of enzyme-related defects of the red blood cell that can cause hemolytic anemia. PKD is the second most common cause, after glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. PKD is inherited […]
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Introduction: Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency affects approximately 400 million individuals worldwide. It is the most common human enzyme defect. The global distribution of this disorder is remarkably similar to that of malaria, lending support to the so-called malaria protection hypothesis. It is common in Africa, around the Mediterranean, and in the Orient. G6PD deficiency is an X-linked recessive disorder. The hereditary genetic […]
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