Aplastic Anemia

What is Aplastic Anemia?
Not many people suffer from this rare disorder. Aplastic anemia is one such disorder but is considered extremely dangerous because this is a problem related to the blood and you may come up with other infections. The other infections may be fatal too, though it is not because of Aplastic Anemia that you may loose your life. Once you have been diagnosed with this disorder, then the chances of you catching an infection is quite possible, and your body’s immune system is not ready to fight the infection.

To explain this in terms that are more understandable, one should know the function of bone marrow. The bone marrow is a red spongy mass of tissue inside the bone and this is a production center for white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. The life of the red blood cells is 120 days, the platelets are six days and that of the white blood cells is one day. So the bone marrow is on a continuous production process to compensate for the cells that are dying off. In case you are suffering from a bleeding, then the bone marrow goes into overdrive to produce more cells.

So now just imagine a case where your bone marrow is unable to produce cells. You start getting, weak and you are more prone to infections. This is exactly what happens when you are diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia.

Aplastic anemia has not proved to be contagious, though it can affect anyone without any age barrier.

Aplastic Anemia Symptoms Some of the common symptoms that a person shows are, the person suffers from some kind of un-explained infections, he / she has some unexplained bleedings, and gets tired easily. The infections are caused by the inability of the body to fight off the infections by the white blood cells. Bleedings are considered dangerous; sometimes your body might not be able to clot the bleeding automatically.

The more dangerous ones are the internal bleedings. Fatigue is due to no fresh blood in your body.
What Causes Aplastic Anemia? Certain environmental factors cause Aplastic anemia, and exposure to radiation, insecticides, environmental toxins, and drugs have also contributed to Aplastic Anemia.

Other factors that contribute to one suffering from Aplastic anemia are airplane glue, Benzene-based compounds and drugs such as chloramphenicol.
Certain studies have shown that Aplastic anemia is caused by a virus.

How is Aplastic Anemia Diagnosed?
To find out if you are suffering from Aplastic anemia, it is required that you undergo all tests for the checking the count of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. The bone marrow is also tested for determining the problem.

Can Aplastic Anemia be treated?
Yes, with modern age science, Aplastic anemia can be treated. Once you have been diagnosed as suffering from the problem, it is mandatory that you get immediate medical attention.

Aplastic Anemia Treatment options?
Treatment can be done by providing with blood transfusions of the red blood cells, supplementing one with antibiotics to control the infections that one is developing, and keeping one in isolation (this reduces the chance of one getting an infection from the outside world).

Bone marrow transplant is also done if a suiting donor is found.