What is Hemophilia?

To break down the word, hemo is latin for blood and philia
means having a tendency towards. Therefore hemophilia is a tendency towards blood.
Hemophilia is a rare disorder that causes excess bleeding when an injury occurs. It also
causes a longer bleeding time and a higher likelihood to have internal bleeding around
knees, ankles and elbows.

Hemophilia is typically
inherited. The reason for the excessive bleeding is a rare genetic problem that causes
the person to have little or no clotting factor. In order for bleeding to stop in people
without hemophilia, platelets come to clot up the injured site. That's why when someone
gets a cut, they have a scab afterwards. The scab is actually the site where platelets,
among other things, came to help block the site and stop the bleeding. Hemophiliacs
don't have this.

There are two types of hemophilia; Type A
and Type B. Around 80% of people have Type A, which is were a person is missing or has
very low levels of a certain clotting factor VIII. Those with Type B are missing or have
low levels of clotting factor IX.

The only time hemophilia
is not inherited is if the human body forms antibodies that will attack the clotting
factors and prevent them from working. 

Hemophiliacs are
typically treated through replacement therapy. This is where they are infused with
concentrations of clotting factor (which factor depends on which type they are) to help
replace the clotting factor that is low or
non-existent.

There are other treatments such as medicines
and gene therapy.