Dr Fatai Bello, a Haematologist with Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, said on Wednesday haemophilia was a disease condition capable of wiping out male members in a family .
Bello said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the build up to the 2014 World Haemophilia Day with the theme: “Speak out. Create change.”
He said that in the past, Nigerians believed haemophilia was the result of witchcraft or a family curse that caused all the male members in a family to bleed to death.
“It’s a disease condition characterised by abnormal bleeding and it is actually due to a deficiency in some clotting proteins.
“There are some things in the blood that are supposed to make your blood stop bleeding when you have a cut, so in haemophiliacs protein is very low or not there at all.
“Basically that’s what we call haemophilia, it’s not contagious but is inherited and the commonest one, which is haemophilia A is what we call ‘X –link’, that means haemophilia A is commonest in boys.
“In the sense that the boy gets it from the mother, the mother would have got it most likely from her own father.”
He, however, explained that haemophilia was a blood disorder characterised by abnormal bleeding because the person’s blood did not clot.
Bello said that haemophilia occurred in one of every 10, 000 males worldwide.
According to him, though it is even rarer in females, it still occurs and to his knowledge only one Nigerian female has been diagnosed with haemophilia.
He said that diagnosis was very important because from haemophiliac a common cut or a bruise could be deadly
“Diagnosis usually starts from suspicion. In our environment, you have a boy that at circumcision, the bleeding just won’t stop.
“The baby has a cut, he bleeds for a long time; swollen knees, swollen joints, you start suspecting haemophilia in such a boy.
“Especially if there is family history of such on the mother’s side, ask the mother if she has any relation that has similar things.
“Such children are usually brought to tertiary centres such as this. It’s not a diagnosis you can make in small labs.”
Bello said that World Haemophilia Day was a good time to raise awareness on the condition.
NAN reports that LUTH is hosting a technical seminar on World Haemophilia Day in order to enlighten more people on the disorder. (NAN)
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