Leukemia
By Alessandro Murillo
A.History of Leukemia
Leukemia was not officially diagnosed until 1845, when John Hughes Bennett diagnosed in Edinburgh. Other European physicians in 19th observed that their patients had abnormally high level of white blood cells and they called the diseases weisses blut meaning white blood. In 1913 four types of leukemia were classified, it was confirmed that some patients could be cured of leukemia and by 1980s and 1990s the cure rates for leukemia were around 70%.
A.What is The Cause of Leukemia?
Environmental Risk
About 20% of adults acute Leukemia through smoking, high doses of radiation such as a atomic bomb, long-term exposure to benzene which is found in gasoline(causes twenty times more a chance of having Leukemia).
Genetic Risk
Chromosome damage rare genetic syndromes put people at higher risk. Downs syndrome children born with Downs are twenty times more likely to develop Leukemia. And the most common reason is chromosomal disorder is when your is unable to know when to stop making white blood cells.
A.How many People are affected?
One person in U.S is diagnosed with blood cancer ( or Leukemia) approximately every 4 minutes. An estimated combined total of 144,990 people in the U.S will be diagnosed with Leukemia in 2013. New cases of Leukemia will account for 9 percent of the 1,660,290 new cancer cases diagnosed in the U.S this year.
A.Facts about Leukemia
- Every four minutes a person is diagnosed with Leukemia.
- One third of Leukemia patients are children and teens.
- The Greeks are believed to have the first recognized the diseases during the 5th century.
- Each year in the U.S. about 30,000 new cases of Leukemia are diagnosed.
A.What is the range of Leukemia?
The range of Leukemia it's worldwide. Anybody can get it at anytime, in any part of the world.
B. Picture of Affected Body Parts
The whole spinal cord is affected.
The whole body is affected because without no white cells your body can't protect itself.
Their you see that the doctor is applying some medicine to help the disease.
B.What is the Scientific name and Classification of Leukemia?
Scientific name- Acute meg akaryoblastic Leukemia
Classification-Lymphocytic or Myelogenous .
B.How is Leukemia Transmitted into Humans?
Like other cancers is not contagious, white blood cells help to fight infections so obviously you can't fight this disease easily. However if it is caught on time it may be curable. But it is spread throughout your body by cells.
B.What Human Body Systems does Leukemia Affect?
Typically the bone marrow that is cancerous but in some cases the spleen is also affected. The cancerous cells either overproduce nonfunctional blood cells or cease blood cell production. Different cells are affected and that is what determines what type of Leukemia the patient has. As leukemia progresses, it may affect and enlarge lymph nodes, liver, and spleen. So the organ systems it may affect the circulatory system, the digestive system, blood, and skeletal system.
C.How does the Immune System respond to Leukemia?
Patients suffering from Leukemia could have their Immune System engineered fight the disease, after scientist from the University of Birmingham discovered that hey lacked an Immune response to a certain class of proteins and this response could be restored through stem cell transplant.
C.What body Systems are Involved in the fighting Leukemia?
The Immune System.
C.How Long does the Immune System take to Respond?
There is nothing that has been proven that will speed up your Immune System. The body's Immune System does usually control the virus or bacteria after a year or so.
D.What are the Symptoms of Leukemia?
If the brain is affected, they may have headaches, vomiting, confusion, loss of muscle control, or seizures. Leukemia also can affect other body parts such as kidneys, lungs, heart, and even the testes. Other symptoms can be fevers, night sweat, frequent infections, feeling weak or tired, bleeding and bruising easily (bleeding gums, purplish patches in the skin, or tiny red spots under the skin).
D.How could a person prevent Leukemia?
There is no known way to prevent most types of Leukemia. Most people with Leukemia do not have known risk factors. Some types of Leukemia may be prevented by avoiding high doses of radiation, smoking, exposure to the chemical benzene.
D.What medical treatments are Available?
People with Leukemia have many treatments options. The options are watchful waiting, therapy, radiation therapy, stem cell transplant, targeted therapy. If your spleen is enlarged your doctor may suggest surgery to remove it. The choice of the treatments depends mainly on: the type of Leukemia, your age, whether leukemia cells were found in your cerebrospinal fluid.
D.Describe the course of Leukemia (how it progresses and it's prognosis(the outcome).
Leukemia invades the blood and can spread throughout the body to other organs, such as the liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. But it does not normally produce tumors as do many types of cancer. Without treatment it can be fatal within few months.
The Resources I used
http://www.montana.edu/wwwai/imsd/cancer/van1/vwriskfactor.htm
http://www.lls.org/diseaseinformation/getinformationsupport/factsstatistics/
http://leukemia123.weebly.com/fun-facts-p.html
http://www.lls.org/diseaseinformation/getinformationsupport/factsstatistics/
http://leukemia123.weebly.com/fun-facts-p.html
The Resources I used
http://www.medicinenet.com/leukemia/page5.htm#symptoms
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/tc/leukemia-prevention
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/09/Missing-immune-response-may-prove-a-vital-link-for-new-leukaemia-treatments.aspx
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/tc/leukemia-prevention
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/09/Missing-immune-response-may-prove-a-vital-link-for-new-leukaemia-treatments.aspx