Difference between Hemophilia A and B
Haemophilia is a genetic disorder passed onto children from their parents at the time of birth. It impairs the victim’s body to control the clotting of blood which is necessary to stop blood from bleeding when a blood vessel breaks. There are two main types of Haemophilia; Haemophilia A and Haemophilia B. Both these types are very similar to each other with only a few differences number of cases reported every year and causes.
Haemophilia A represents 80 percent of total Haemophilia cases. Haemophilia B represents the remaining 20 percent cases.This means that if you observe 100 haemophilia patients, 80 of those patients would be suffering from Haemophilia A whereas the other 20 would be suffering from Haemophilia B.
Mutation in the F8 gene is the direct cause of Haemophilia A whereas mutation in the F9 gene is the cause of Haemophilia B.
Last but not the least, there is a pathophysiological difference between the two types of Haemophilia. Whenever a blood vessel gets punctured, bleeding is stopped by blood’s clotting mechanism. In Haemophilia A co-factor ‘factor VIII’ in the blood becomes non-functional. In case of Haemophilia B, co-factor ‘factor IX’ becomes non-functional.
Instructions
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Haemophilia A:
Haemophilia A is a subtype of Haemophilia which causes bleeding, both internal and external. It is caused by a mutation of the Factor VIII gene. Haemophilia A affects mainly males. Although it is a genetic disease, yet there is no family history in almost 30 percent of the patients. In these cases, the disease is attributed to new mutations.
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Haemophilia B:
Haemophilia B is also referred to as the Christmas disease. This is because name of the first patient diagnosed with Haemophilia B was Stephen Christmas. It is caused by a mutation of the Factor XI gene. Haemophilia B is less common than the primary type of Haemophilia; Haemophilia A.
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