BLOOD CONDITIONS: HEMOPHILIA
Despite all these remarkable and interesting anemias, the one chief reason for a lack of blood is bleeding, whether by a sudden great hemorrhage or by steady day-by-day little losses. Of course all of us bleed at times and, were it not for the remarkable phenomenon of blood clotting, we could not exist; for we are bound to have injuries. The manner in which blood does clot is very complex, various different substances taking part and a whole series of intricate changes being involved.There are unfortunate people who are born with some lack of these substances; at least the above changes cannot take place in their blood. We say they have hemophilia. This is a remarkable disease which was recognized almost as far back as biblical times and was clearly described nearly a century and a half ago. Because of its spectacular characteristics and the fact that some of the royal families of Europe have been afflicted with it, the general public is fairly well acquainted with its chief characteristic, which is a lifelong tendency to prolonged hemorrhage in affected males.If a man is a hemophiliac, all his sons are normal and cannot pass on the defect to any of their descendants. None of his daughters will be “bleeders,” but half of them may pass on the disease to half their sons. Likewise the same proportion of granddaughters may be “conductors” of the trouble.Naturally all affected male children of such stock must be protected against wounds and abrasions. Transfusions of whole blood or plasma increase the speed of clotting. Even such small amounts as thirty to forty cubic centimeters of blood have been found to help when hemorrhage occurs. The results are not long lasting but the treatment may be repeated as often as necessary.It has been said that hemophiliacs improve when manhood is reached. Probably the answer is that (1) the most severe cases die in early life, (2) the teething period is passed, (3) more discretion and less activity result in fewer injuries.Little of value has been developed for prevention or treatment of this affliction. Theoretically the disease could be eliminated if all the children in such families, except the un-afflicted males, would refrain from marriage or at least from propagation. Of course if we could get such cooperation as this we would put an end to nearly all human ills.During the recent war a group of workers under Edwin J. Cohn, Ph.D., extracted from the blood a large number of different substances known as plasma fractions, with varying and remarkable functions. One of these, globulin fraction, hurries up the coagulation of blood and a portion of a teaspoonful of this is almost as potent in stopping bleeding as a small cupful of whole blood. It is thought likely that even more potent fractions will be obtained and furnish some further protection to these unfortunate “bleeders.”*15/276/5*
