Anemia

Hello guys! Have a nice day. Did you ever heard about ANEMIA ? YES ? NO? If yes, how you get to know about anemia? If not, its okay we may help you to find the answer. Actually anemia is a condition marked by a deficiency of red blood cells or of hemoglobin in the blood, resulting in pallor and weariness. Seriously? What is blood cell? Hemoglobin? You getting lost right now? Its okay lets us help you find the answer.  

Here, the answer for all the question that keep running on your head every time. But, before that let we recap or tell you general about blood. Blood is a combination of plasma (watery liquid) and cells that float in it. It is a specialized bodily fluid that supplies essential substances and nutrients, such as sugar, oxygen, and hormones to our cells, and carries waste away from those cells, this waste is eventually flushed out of the body through urine, feces, sweat, and lungs (carbon dioxide). 

Plasma constitutes 55% of blood fluid in humans and other vertebrates (animals with a backbone, spinal column).

Apart from water, plasma also contains:

• Blood cells
• Carbon dioxide
• Glucose (sugar)
• Hormones
• Proteins

Have you know actually inside this red color liquid (blood) consist several type of cells that you cant ever see through your naked eyes. Its amazing right?

Types of blood cells:

• Red blood cells - also known as RBCs or erythrocytes. They are shaped like slightly indented, flattened disks or biconcave. These are the most abundant cells, and contain hemoglobin (Hb or Hgb). 
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• Hemoglobin is a protein which contains iron; it transports oxygen from the lungs to body tissues and cells. 97% of a human's red blood cell's dry content is protein.
  
  Each RBC has a life span of about 120 days or 4 months; at the end of their lives they are degraded by the spleen and the Kupffer cells in the liver. The body continuously replaces the ones that die.

• White blood cells (leukocytes) - these are the cells of our immune system; they defend the body against infections and foreign materials. There are 5 types of white blood cell which either have granule (granulocytes) or without granule (agranulocytes)
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• Platelets (thrombocytes) - are involved in the clotting (coagulation) of blood. When we bleed the platelets clump together to help form a clot.
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• You get some general idea regarding the blood right? Now, back to our main topic which is ANEMIA. As mentioned before, anemia is the condition when the number of healthy red blood cells in your body is too low. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all of the body’s tissues, so a low red blood cell count indicates that the amount of oxygen in your blood is lower than it should be. Many of the symptoms of anemia are caused by decreased oxygen delivery to the body’s vital tissues and organs. There are many types of anemia such as sickle cell anemia, megaloblastic anemia, iron-deficiency anemia, hemolytic anemia and so on. However,in our blog, mainly focus about anemia due to G6PD deficiency. 

• ABOUT G6PD DEFICIENCY
• G6PD is one of many enzymes that help the body process carbohydrates and turn them into energy. G6PD also protects red blood cells from potentially harmful byproducts that can accumulate when a person takes certain medications or when the body is fighting an infection.
  In people with G6PD deficiency, either the RBCs do not make enough G6PD or what is produced cannot properly function. Without enough G6PD to protect them, RBCs can be damaged or destroyed. Hemolytic anemia occurs when the bone marrow (the soft, spongy part of the bone that produces new blood cells) cannot compensate for this destruction by increasing its production of RBCs.