Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides) - Sunday 17 April is World Haemophilia Day. The date marks the birth of Canadian Frank Schnabel who founded the World Federation for Haemophilia in 1963.
This rare hereditary pathology due to a genetic defect causes severe bleeding and affects one out of every 5,000 new born males. Italy has more than 5,000 cases and in the world it affects more than 400,000: 75% unaware of the condition and only 20% has access to treatment and only in developed countries.
Haemophilia is a lifelong bleeding disorder that prevents blood from clotting properly. People with haemophilia do not have enough clotting factor, a protein in blood that controls bleeding. The severity of a person’s haemophilia depends on the amount of clotting factor that is missing. A person with haemophilia does not bleed faster than anyone else, but bleeding may last longer. The main danger is uncontrolled internal bleeding that starts spontaneously or results from injury. Bleeding into joints and muscles can cause stiffness, pain, severe joint damage, disability, and sometimes death.
In the 1980s 3,500 haemophilic Italians were given transfusions of infect blood with tragic consequences : almost all contracted hepatitis. 820 contracted HIV and half of them died of AIDS..
The main purpose of the Day is to spread knowledge of this disease with various initiatives. (AP) (14/4/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:20 Parole:220)
