At least 75 percent of people living with hemophilia in Mexico they do not come to request timely medical care because they are unaware that they live with the condition and, in other cases, they receive inadequate treatment, a specialist warned.
“(This) predisposes to suffer joint injuries incapacitating and even to die”, said the hematologist of the National institute of pediatrics (INP), María de Lourdes González Pedroza, in a bulletin published this day.
In the framework of world hemophilia daywhich is commemorated on April 17, the expert highlighted the importance of timely detection and care of this disease, which, she recalled, is incurable and whose main symptom is frequent bleeding without apparent cause.
González Pedroza explained that this condition exclusively affects men, since it is linked to the X chromosome; while women are only carriers and transmitters in the case of mothers.
“The hemophilia it is characterized by an alteration in coagulation, which causes hemorrhages when an injury occurs or even spontaneously in any part of the body, including the brain; especially, in joints such as elbows, ankles and knees, ”he pointed out.
The first bleeding, he added, usually occurs in the knees at 10 months of age, because children begin to crawl. “If that happens, medical attention should be sought immediately.”
In Mexicoit is estimated that more than 5 thousand people suffer from hemophilia and more than a thousand mothers can transmit it to their daughters and sons. Furthermore, about 70 percent of cases are hereditary; the rest have no family history, so it is considered a rare condition It occurs in one of every 10,000 living males.
González Pedroza explained that the male child of a woman with hemophilia has a 50 percent chance of suffering from the disease; and the daughter has a 50 percent chance of being a carrier, like her mother.
The INP specialist reported that there are two types of hemophilia: the A, which is identified in one of every 30 thousand live newborns; and the Bin one of each 50 thousand.
Prevention and timely detection essential
González Pedroza emphasized the need for prevention y timely detection from general medicine so that people with this disease are referred to specialized care in a timely manner.
He added that the diagnosis is suspected by hemorrhagic symptoms and is detected through coagulation tests y factor VIII quantification or IX of the blood coagulation.
In Mexico, institutions such as the INP provide comprehensive medical care to these patients with the aim of reducing the sequelae left by bleeding joints.
In addition, they train families and patients on the care and application of treatment in their homes.
The treatment, he said, consists of the application of coagulation factors derived from human plasma with double method of viral inactivation or recombinant factors that are applied intravenously, which can be on demand or as prophylaxis, administering factor VIII or IX, depending on the type of hemophilia, 1 to 3 times a week.
In addition, they must be carried out genetic studies mothers and fathers and they are informed that there is always a risk that all their daughters and sons inherit the disease, so family planning is recommended.
With information from EFE