Hemochromatosis Research Paper

In chapter one it talks about how hemachromatosis is a hereditary disease and it’s the most common genetic disease for people of European descent, in which the body can't register that it has enough iron. So it keeps absorbing as much of it as possible, and this can have very, serious side effects (including death). Iron is very important for bacteria, cancer, and other things to grow. The way this disease is most easily treated is blood letting. Looks like all those crazy blood-letting, leech-sticking doctors weren't mistreating everyone. What is the author's argument for why this disease stuck around? To really simplify things: during the black plague in Europe, people with more iron in their system were more likely

Iron Deficiency Anemia affects millions of individuals across the world. This disease strikes many more women than men and has harmful effects on all who suffer from this deficiency that causes oxygen-carrying capacity to decrease. The causes can vary amongst different groups, but the aggravating symptoms remain constant. Much of the research on Iron Deficiency Anemia concentrates on not only the treatment of this disease, but also the prevention of it. To attain a better understanding of how to treat this problem, one must clearly know what Iron Deficiency Anemia means, what causes this disease, the effects of it, and finally how to cure it.

There is also three other forms of hemochromatosis Juvenile, neonatal, and transfusion. “Juvenile hemochromatosis is one type of form which affects young adults ages 15 to 30.” Then there is “neonatal hemochromatosis, which is when iron builds up very quickly in an infants liver and can cause death.” The third is transfusion related hemochromatosis which is a result of “iron overload cause by to many blood transfusions.”

The first disease Moalem discusses, hemochromatosis, is a hereditary disorder that he himself lives with. It causes excess iron buildup throughout the body, damaging “the joints, the major organs, and overall body chemistry” (p. 13). Hemochromatosis can lead to “liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, psychiatric disorders[, ...] cancer” (p. 13) and, in the end, death. Although it is more common in some communities than others, today the low-penetrance disease only manifests in 1 in 200 people.

Sharon Moalem discusses is hemochromatosis. Hemochromatosis is a disorder that disrupts iron metabolization, by absorbing excess iron instead of passing it through the body, causing iron to build up in the organs, especially the liver, heart and pancreas. The symptoms are joint pain, fatigue, and weakness. It was first described by Armand Trousseau in 1865, but is thought to have originated with the Vikings and spread throughout Northern and Western Europe. The genetic variant for hemochromatosis is very common among people of Western European descent, but only one in two hundred of those people have the disease with all of the assorted symptoms. Hemochromatosis can be diagnosed through blood and genetic tests, and it can be treated through the ancient practice of phlebotomy, or bloodletting. This lowers the amount of iron in the blood, and in the body, to safe levels. But although it is easily treatable, if left unchecked, hemochromatosis can lead to serious complications. As Dr. Moalem says, “Unchecked, hemochromatosis can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, psychiatric disorders, and even cancer. Unchecked, hemochromatosis will lead to death.” Thus, before the days of genetic and blood testing, hemochromatosis was a very dangerous disease, and often caused death in middle age. It is here that Dr. Moalem raises the question: if hemochromatosis was so deadly, why was it passed down for so many generations? Unless it provided our ancestors with an advantage, such a damaging disease would not have remained in their gene

Hemochromatosis is a disease with signs and symptoms that are very “vague” and can be taken as symptoms for another disease. These nonspecific symptoms are usually the early signs of the disease. These symptoms are joint pain, fatigue, weakness, weight loss, stomach pain, impotence, early menopause and/or possible skin bronzing. Some symptoms may be more severe such as diabetes and heart failure. Yet, not all symptoms show which does make it harder to diagnose.

Take hemochromatosis, a hereditary condition that causes iron to accumulate in a person's body. A person having hemochromatosis

The first disease Moalem discusses, hemochromatosis, is a hereditary disorder that he himself lives with. It causes excess iron buildup throughout the body, damaging “the joints, the major organs, and overall body chemistry” (p. 13). Hemochromatosis can cause conditions such as “liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis,

Because of this, the body absorbs iron nonstop. As a result, the body will have extremely high levels of iron, leading to fatal outcomes over time. Such consequences include “damaging the joints, the major organs, and overall body chemistry” (Moalem, p. 2). When this disease was described in 1865, it was thought that this disease was extremely rare. But it was soon discovered that this particular disease, soon called hemochromatosis, was caused by a certain gene. In the book, it states “If your ancestors are Western European, the odds are about one in three, or one in four, that you carry at least one copy of the hemochromatosis gene” (Moalem, p. 3). In other words, this is the most common hereditary disease of those of Western European descent. This brings up another question. Why would a disorder be so common in the genetic pool of the Western Europeans? First, it needs to be understood that harmful bacteria feed on iron of the macrophages to thrive. However, people with hemochromatosis have a lack of iron in their macrophages, even though it may seem like the complete opposite. Therefore, those who have hemochromatosis are less prone to infectious agents. For this reason, people with hemochromatosis were less prone to diseases like the bubonic plague and tuberculosis. During the Black Death, for people who had hemochromatosis, “though it would kill them decades later, they are much more likely. . .to survive the plague, reproduce, and pass the mutation to their children” (Moelem, p. 15). Since the mutation helped humans survive an outbreak of the bubonic break in the fourteenth century, the mutation became more common in the gene pool. To treat this genetic disorder, bloodletting is the treatment of choice since it reduces the iron level in their body. I find it interesting that bloodletting, an ancient

Each treatment should be treated case-by-case to ensure that the patient is receiving the best possible care. Suggested treatments consist of regular infusions of DDAVP and/or clotting factor, first aid for minor cuts, physical therapy, fibrin sealants and clot-preserving medications. For Hemophilia C, clotting factor XI is available only in Europe and in the United States bleeding episodes are treated through plasma infusions. Clotting factor XI is not available in the United States because Factor XI concentrates are blood products with a concentrated form of Factor XI. Meanwhile, available only in certain areas of Europe, these blood concentrates are made through a series combining thousands of different blood donors. Therefore, the United States only keeps frozen plasma instead. Fibrin sealants work by applying the medication directly to the site of the wound, from there the Fibrin promotes clotting and healing. Clot-preserving medications can also be applied directly to the wound. However, this time the medication preserves the clot from breaking down and assists in ending the

Typically, when a human body has a sufficient amount of iron, it will reduce its intake of iron. However, within certain bodies, it is always under the impression that there isn’t enough. Thus, it continues to absorb more iron and this iron overload is the result of a disease called hemochromatosis. Generally, the excess iron builds up in the joints, liver, heart, and other organs which can lead to symptoms that include physical difficulty, joint pain, and an irregular heartbeat. However, the symptoms alone is not enough when it comes to diagnosing hemochromatosis. Therefore, taking part in blood, liver, and/or DNA testing will be more accurate. After diagnosing hemochromatosis, people can undergo treatments such as the medical procedure called bloodletting. By

Sickle Cell Anemia is a hereditary disease that changes the smallest and most important components of the body. A gene causes the bone marrow in the body to make sickled shapes, when this happens; it causes the red blood cell to die faster. This is what causes Hemolytic Anemia. Older children and adults with sickle cell disease may experience a few complications, or have a pattern of ongoing problems that shorten their lives. The most common and serious complications of sickle cell disease are anemia, pain, fatigue, and organ failure. Today there are many alternatives and opportunities that a sickle cell patient may consider. One outlined in this paper is the Hydroxyurea method.

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HHC), the accumulation of iron overload in body tissues. This overload of iron usually occurs because of a genetic predisposition to absorb iron in excess. It can also occur as a complication of hematologic disorders, hepatitis, excessive of iron intake, repeated transfusion therapy and injections of iron dextram. Since there is no physiologic mechanism, the only way for excretion of excess iron is blood loss. Iron is transported in the body via transferrin and stored in ferritin molecules. Once the absorption of iron exceeds its storage capacity in the ferritin molecules, all the excess and unbounded iron promotes free-radical formation in cells, which then results in the peroxidation of membrane lipids and injury of cells. The deposition of iron occurs in many organs, such as, liver, pancreas, and heart.

Hemophilia is a problem with the blood in a person that causes them to bleed not any faster than normal, but they often bleed for a longer period. Their blood is missing the clotting factor (a protein in the bloodstream that works to control bleeding). Hemophilia is quite rare; roughly 1 in every 10,000 persons are born with it. Rarely, hemophilia can be an acquired disease which just means a person is not born with it, but will develop it during their lifetime. This rarity occurs when a person's immune system forms antibodies that attack the clotting factor in the blood. The entire antibody population fights against the blood to prevent the clotting factors from working properly.

Thalassemia is an inheritable blood disorder wherein the body synthesizes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. According to Giardina & Rivella (2013), the thalassemias are inherited as pathologic alleles of one or more of the globin genes located on chromosomes 11 and 16. These lesions range from the total deletion or rearrangement of the loci to point mutations that impair transcription, processing, or translation of globin mRNA (p. 505). This disorder may further lead to the excessive destruction of red blood cells, commonly known as anemia.