A consultant haematologist, Prof. Suleiman Akanmu, on Tuesday said that heavy bleeding after circumcision might be the first sign of hemophilia in male children.
Akanmu, Head, Department of Heamatology and Blood Transfusion, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
NAN reports that hemophilia is a group of inherited bleeding disorders that cause abnormal bleeding and poor blood clotting.
“Circumcision is the major cause of bleeding in the early life of male children that are born with hemophilia.
“In LUTH, we see like one or two cases every week usually in children of ages two to seven years,’’ he said.
Akanmu said that many male children with hemophilia died soon after birth because of wrong diagnosis and perception.
“Male children are dying in their numbers in our villages due to the wrong perception and the myth surrounding the disease.
“This has prevented parents from getting timely and accurate care for such children.
“In fact, by the time we get to see them, they must have visited all the herbalists in the world and they have all sorts of names for hemophilia,’’ he said.
According to him, other signs of the disease include excessive bleeding and easy bruising from minor falls and nosebleeds for no obvious reasons.
“Children who have hemophilia may show signs through excessive bleeding from minor falls and cuts.
“When the child grows between age one and two and starts falling down and bleeds from a minor fall that normally should not affect him or her, that may be a sign.
“If you see the bleeding in the wrist, ankle, elbow and the tongue and gum each time the child has a minor fall or a cut, it is also another possible sign of hemophilia,” he said.
Akanmu said that hemophilia could cause internal bleeding which is a serious complication of the disease.
It can cause blood in the urine and stool and bleeding in the joints and brain.
“This is a very serious complication of hemophilia with signs like sleeplessness, vomiting, painful headaches and seizures,” he said.
Akanmu expressed his dismay over the vicitmisation of mothers as a result of the presentation of the disease in their children.
“Women are the carriers of hemophilic gene and the man is usually the sufferer.
“The major headache is the fact that the mode of inheritance is from the mother to the son and mothers have been subject of harassment by their in-laws,’’ he said.
Akanmu appealed to families not to victimise the women, but rather, to look towards providing such children with adequate care and treatment.
“Prompt and adequate treatment can greatly reduce the risks of life-threatening bleedings and prevent complications due to hemophilia,’’ the consultant said.
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