Hemochromatosis!! because big words are fun

What is it? How does it happen. Who has it, and where does it occur? What does is say about humanities modest presence in this large galaxy?

Hemochomatosis is a disease caused by a genetic mutation in the HFE gene. A mutation in this gene can cause the body to overproduce iron, which without treatment can cause serious organ damage.

Homeochromatosis is a common genetic disease in the United States. It mainly affects Caucasians of Northern European decent, but rarely African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and American Indians.Also, it is primarily an inherited genetic defect. Roughly one out of every ten Caucasians have one mutated HFE gene(though not all mutations lead to homeochomatosis). Despite its regularity it was not discovered until 1996.

Symptoms include:

joint pain

fatigue, or feeling tired

unexplained weight loss

abnormal bronze or gray skin color

abdominal pain

loss of sex drive

Physical affect of hemochromatosis on liver.

It can be diagnosed with the help of medical and family history, physical exams, and routine blood tests. Treatment is simple and inexpensive. All it requires is routine blood draws, through a process called phlebotomy, to level out the amount of iron in the patients blood.

Without treatment Hemochromatosis can lead to:

Cirrhosis, or scarring of liver tissue

diabetes

irregular heart rhythms or weakening of the heart muscle

arthritis

erectile dysfunction

Current research on hemochromatosis is underway focusing on ways to eliminate infant and fetus hemochromatosis, called neonatal hemochromatosis.

Credits:

Created with images by Kentuckyguard - "Basic Training - 1972" • Golden_ie - "Water" • Kiran Kumar G - "Life" • Rossi Remy - "Elephant" • trioptikmal - "Shanghai Bund" • GlitterandFrills - "My daughter's art in the county art show :)" • anyulled - "Sky"

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