What is haemophilia?
Q: What is haemophilia?
A: Haemophilia is a blood condition that means bleeding does not stop. The bleeding occurs because the blood does not clot, due to a lack of proteins in the blood that make scabs and blood clots.
Q: How is haemophilia treated?
A: Haemophilia can be treated by getting a blood donation from someone without hemophilia, as their blood has clotting proteins which can temporarily make a normal scab.
Q: How common is haemophilia?
A: Haemophilia A happens in about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births and Haemophilia B happens in about 1 in every 20,000–34,000 male births.
Q: Is there any cure for this disease?
A: There is no cure for this disease but there are different treatments available around the world.
Q: What causes hemophilia?
A: Hemophilia usually affects males and it is passed from mother to child through genes. 30% of hemophilia A and B cases are the first person in their family to have hemophilia which is the result of an unexpected mutation (this means that there is an unexpected change in the body). It usually affects males due to genetic defects on the X chromosome as they have only one X chromosome while females have two X chromosomes so a recessive gene may be masked by a normal gene on the other X chromosome. Defects of this type are called "sex-linked" in genetics.
Q: Are there different types of haemophila?
A: Yes, there are three types of haemophelia - Haemophelia A (no clotting ability), Haemophelia B (not enough clotting ability) and Haemohelia C (caused by two recessive genes).
