The scourge of HEMOPHILIA

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:08:20 +0100

'My boy fell down and broke a tooth', said the gentleman. 'He is bleeding from the mouth. Can you see what you can do?'

The child was bleeding from his gums where the tooth had broken loose. I was sure a couple of stitches would cure it. It was done with some air of satisfaction. The bleeding stopped.
A couple of days it started to bleed again. I felt bad, and felt that it deserves the attention of a surgeon. So off we went to the Provincial General Hospital and saw Mr. Anjarwalla, the Provincial Surgeon, and felt the same as I did. He had the child anesthetised, and put in a few sutures. He was smug and felt that he had done a good job and he had shown a junior what a good master he was.

Well, a couple of days went by and all were happy. The happiness was short lived, as he started to bleed again. A blood test then showed that the child had HEMOPHILIA, a scourge you would not wish even on your enemy.
The disease affects males, but is passed on by females. It was this way that it had spread in Europe, because Queen Vicotoria was a career. It was passed on to her son Leopold, and through several daughters to many royalties in Europe- Germany, Russia etc. In fact the Czars in Russia had it. The reason they had beards because they did not dare to shave, as they could easily bleed to death from a minor cut.

The bleeding is from cuts and bruises, and becomes unstoppable. Sometimes it even bleeds in joints etc leading to painful arthritis.

Anyway, the gentleman had another son who was also afflicted. Then he had daughters that had sons who were also affected, thus the cycle of tragedy is a contnuous affair. In fact, one of th sons also had Thalassaemia super-added. One of his sons died of AIDS because of transfusions that these kids need, and the blood in one of the transfusions had the virus.

There is only one conclusion- research, and education of the progeny, adopt and do not for heavens sake,
multiply.

I would love to give you the name of this wonderful family, but sorry, I cannot.

MEDICINE- TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDIES

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:33:08 +0100

Once I saw a child in my practice in Kenya. Father told me that the child was lethargic, off his food etc. The child was malnourished, had a large abdomen, and some fever. He was given a drink of Piperazine, an antiworm medicine. Next day, the proud father saw me, and told me the good news. The child had passed 236 roundworms, he had counted them personally!
In our world, we do not even know the suffering of the children in poor countries.

medicine--triumph-and-tragedies

The scourge of HEMOPHILIA

MEDICINE- TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDIES