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| Past: The treatment of Hemophilia has been very problematic in history. Adding new blood to the patients has been the treatment for quite sometime. However doctors have not always been able to test the blood to see if it is pure. In the past, while the new blood was helping the patient with hemophilia, it was also hurting him. Patients have received diseases such as HIV, Aids, and all types of hepatitis through the blood transfusions. Still recently, there may be problems in the blood transfusion. Doctors have found that a disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been a concern for being injected in transfusion. Although there has not been a case in hemophiliacs yet, doctors are still testing to see if CJD can be transmitted in blood transfusion. Present: In the past couple decades, doctors have gained the ability to test the blood for diseases. Currently, the main treatment for both Hemophilia A and B is called prophylaxis. This involves a clotting factor replacement. In this treatment, the replacement is added to the patient's blood, adding the missing factor, whether it is factor 8 or factor 9, back to the blood. With the replacement in the patient's blood, he can form clots properly. This process may be performed a few times per week on the patient. Hemophilia test centers can be found around the country to assist any hemophiliac in treatment. Still, it is easier for patients to learn to treat themselves, like diabetes patients, because they must do the treatment so often. Patients must have their medication with them at all times to ensure their safety. | |
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| Future: The future appears to be bright for hemophiliacs. Doctors have developed a new cure, called recombinant factor VIII. This cure only involves the factor 8 needed to cure Hemophilia A and includes nothing else in it that could have harmful factors in it. Therefore, nothing else is transmitted in with the cure. Doctors are also in the process of forming a recombinant factor IX, for Hemophilia B. Both of these cures would be much more effective then any other treatment offered yet. Still, as of now, both of these cures are much more expensive than the regular blood transfusion, because they are harder to produce and find.
In their searches, doctors have also attempted to find a cure that can always get by the patients immune system. Currently, in some cases, the treatment does not work through time because the patient builds up a resistance to it in his immune system. Hopefully, doctors will solve this problem, too, in time.
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