Within the human blood, one of the important components would be the red blood cells. It is the red blood cells that lend blood the color that it has, and actually helps in the distribution of oxygen within the body. However, there are occasions wherein the red blood cells succumb to disease causing complication to the body.
The most common of the red blood cell related illnesses a human being can acquire would be the anemias. Anemias are diseases that due to lack of red blood cells, there is a lower capacity for oxygen to be spread throughout the body. There are a lot of different kinds of anemias. There are the iron deficiency anemia, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, spherocytosis, pernicious anemia, aplastic anemia, pure red cell aplasia, and hemolysis.
These anemias are caused by a variety of factors. Some would be he product of the lack of certain nutrients and minerals in the body, like iron deficiency anemia. Some are genetic inabilities to produce needed components, like hemoglobin, which is the central component of red blood cells. Some are results of the lackluster production of red blood cells themselves. In any case, anemia is very dangerous.
Another common red blood cell related disease is malaria. Malaria is a parasite that spends some part of its life span within red blood cells. This parasite feeds on the red blood cell’s hemoglobin, eventually causing the cells to break apart and induces a fever on the victim.
Not all red blood cell diseases are caused by a lack or absence of something. Polycythemias are diseases caused by an excess of red blood cells. Too much red blood cells cause the blood to become more viscous that causes several negative symptoms. Polycythemia vera, for example, is a disease characterized by abnormalities of the bone marrow due to the excess of red blood cells.
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