Leukemia By Christian Torres 6th hour

History The history on leukemia go as far back as 1847. The doctor who originally named it was Dr. Rudolf Virchow and the discovery of leukemia was not mentioned until February 22, 1970. Leukemia is a type of cancer found in your blood and bone marrow, and is caused by the rapid production of white blood cells.

Most Affected Most affected by this disease gender wise are men as they are more likely to develop acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The chance of you getting leukemia are greater the older you get. Among adults, those of European descent are at greatest risk; for people under 20 though, the highest risk group is Hispanics. It is not known why Hispanic children are at a higher risk than adults. Among white adults, leukemia rates are 12.8 per 100,000, compared against American Indians or Alaskan natives, the least at-risk group, who have an incidence rate of 7.0 per 100,000. Although African Americans have an overall higher rate of all cancers than any other ethnicity, their rates of leukemia are low across the board for both adults and children.

Symptoms Symptoms of leukemia include fatigue, pallor, or general feelings of illness. Other symptoms of leukemia in early stages include a tendency to bruise or bleed easily, sore throat, bronchial pneumonia occasionally accompanied by headaches, low-grade fever, skin rash, loss of appetite and weight, and a very high white blood cell count.

Affects on the Body This cancer mainly affects the circulatory system. Some side effects include low red blood cell count, infection, mouth ulcers, diarrhea, and temporary hair loss. Leukemia can affect the body by causing bone marrow to become crowded more and more with leukemia cells, so there isn’t enough space to make healthy red blood cells. Low levels of platelets means that any cuts you have will take longer to heal and people might get easily bruised. Low levels of blood means people won’t get enough oxygen and can get tired or lose breath easily. One of the biggest problems is that leukemia cells cant fight germs that normal white blood cells do; thus, people can get easily infected.

Causes Some risk factors that can lead to leukemia include having it in you family tree, smoking which increases the chance to get acute myeloid leukemia (AML), genetic disorders such as down syndrome, and blood disorders such as myelodysplastic syndrome, which is sometimes called “preleukemia.”

Treatments Common treatments to leukemia medication wise include chemotherapy and blood transfusion. Treatments that involve medical procedures include a hematopoietic stem cell transfusion and doctors you will most likely visit are a Oncologist, Pediatric hematologist-oncologist, and Hematologist.

Prevention Having an awareness of exposures such as benzene or pesticides, avoiding unnecessary medical radiation, not smoking, exercising, and eating a healthy diet might all be helpful ways to lower the risk of getting leukemia.

Daily life Because younger children may understand the implications of their disease to a lesser extent than adolescents, they tend to adjust better. However, they can still become socially withdrawn. When children miss time at school because they are in hospital, their existing relationships with friends or ability to make new friends may be deteriorated. The same holds true if they cannot participate in similar activities as their friends. Classmates may also feel uncomfortable around peers with medical conditions if they do not understand their condition.

Count Approximately every 3 minutes one person in the United States will get diagnosed with leukemia, a approximant combined 174, 250 people are diagnosed with leukemia in 2018.

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Credits “How Does Leukemia Affect the Body? | Leukemia.” Sharecare, www.sharecare.com/health/leukemia/how-leukemia-affect-the-body. “Cancer Stat Facts: Leukemia - Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).” Acute Myeloid Leukemia - Cancer Stat Facts, seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/cmyl.html. “Can Childhood Leukemia Be Prevented?” American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org/cancer/leukemia-in- children/causes-risks-prevention/prevention.html.