Anemia
by Josie Miller 5th Hour
What is anemia?
Media Influences
Anemia Prescription Drug Article
An article about deadly anemia drugs that were being sold, their dangers being kept secret by the FDA in order to make money. This article seems credible because it has many sources.
Akron Chlidren's Hospital Commercial
Interpersonal Communication
Also if you want to talk about anemia in general, there are message boards regarding anemia on the internet.
example: http://www.healthboards.com/boards/anemia/
Immediate and Long Term Risk Factors
The effects and risk factors of anemia depend on the number of red blood cells in the body, rather than the cause of the anemia. When the red blood cell count is just below normal in the body in a mild case of anemia, there may be no risk factors at all besides the risk of the anemia getting worse without treatment.
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Pale skin
- Cold extremities
- Headaches
- Chest Pain
Long Term Risk Factors:
- Congestive Heart failure
- Heart attacks
- Death
Advances
- Cloning of Erythropoietin and Development of Recombinant Epo Clinical Use
In the 1950s and 1960s scientists showed that a hormone in your body called erythropoietin was responsible for regulating red blood cell production. Twenty years later, researchers developed a synthetic version of that hormone known as epoetin alfa, Epo. Epo can be mass produced and administered by injection under the skin. Today, many patients benefit from this synthetic hormone.
- Immunotherapy for Aplastic Anemia
Before immunotherapy, severe aplastic anemia was fatal to nearly half of all patients regardless of treatment. Now with the development of immunosuppressive therapy combined with other treatments, survival rates have improved substantially and more than 60 percent of patients experience successful responses to the immunotherapy.