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Illnesses

Hemophilia

Hemophilia
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.78

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    airway, bloodstream, clot, episode, genetic, internal, preventive, splint, tract, clinic, factor, therapy, determination, injury, moderate, lifetime
     content words:    United States, Queen Victoria

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Hemophilia
By Jennifer Kenny 		  
1     All people get bumps, bruises, and cuts from time to time. They fall off their bikes, get kicked in a game, or even trip over their own two feet. This is a normal part of life. However, for those suffering from a rare bleeding disorder known as hemophilia, any of these "normal" occurrences can be quite dangerous.
 
2     Why? With hemophilia, the blood can't clot properly. How rare is it? In the United States, around 17,000 people have it. Girls are rarely affected by it. Males pass the genes so that their daughters carry it. When a mother carries the gene, any son has a fifty percent chance of having the disease. Historically speaking, hemophilia was often called the royal disease because Queen Victoria passed the gene to her son, so on and so forth, until it affected many royals.
 
3     When the human blood is working properly, it has special proteins known as clotting factors. These factors help stop bleeding and allow blood vessels to heal when they've been hurt. Those with hemophilia are lacking in a factor so the blood doesn't coagulate, or clot, properly. In the case of Hemophilia A, which represents 80% of the cases of hemophilia, factor VIII is deficient. In the case of Hemophilia B, which is most of the other cases, factor IX is deficient.

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