Hemophilia: Year of the Zebra

Dams are truly impressive feats of engineering able to control the flow of mighty bodies of water. Yet, what if a dam does not function correctly? As you can imagine, the consequences can be dire. Similarly, in hemophilia, the body is not able to adequately produce blood clots that plug damaged blood vessels. The word hemophilia comes from the Greek words for 'blood' and 'love,' a way of saying that the body of an affected patient 'loves to bleed.' This happens when one or more clotting factors are either malfunctioning or are not produced well enough. Symptoms range from mild bruising to prolonged bleeding, especially after dental procedures or injury. The most common form of hemophilia - hemophilia A - is transmitted genetically in an X-linked recessive manner, meaning that it mostly affects males since they only have one X chromosome. Statistically, it is believed that all racial and ethnic groups are equally affected by hemophilia. To learn more about the diagnosis and treatment of hemophilia, watch the dedicated Osmosis video on YouTube and Osmosis.org.