Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: bleeding disorders + new + bleeding  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/7/2008)

Chronic disorders of the intestine Baltimore Sun, United States - They usually have gastrointestinal symptoms - gut symptoms - such as diarrhea, rectal bleeding and abdominal pain. Patients can also have extra-intestinal ... Kids with hemophilia find hope, fun at active camp Atlanta Journal Constitution,  USA - Jul 29, 2008 By HELENA OLIVIERO Seven-year-old Joshua Morton wears a silver medical alert bracelet for his bleeding disorder at all times, but his new flashy green band ... Times Online Is the law bleeding the NHS to death? Times Online, UK - Aug 2, 2008 ?They come to well under 1% of the NHS budget,? he says, ?so the notion that claims are bleeding the NHS dry doesn?t hold water.? Furthermore, it?s entirely ... When kids get sick Chesterfield Observer (subscription), VA - With significant reduction in platelets, clotting capacity is weakened, and spontaneous internal bleeding becomes a threat." His mom, Linda, knows full well ... Half-yearly report MarketWatch - The sales growth for NovoSeven(R) primarily reflected increased sales within the congenital bleeding disorder segments, where Novo Nordisk is the global ... Veteran Torres ready to give a little extra for ailing coach The South African Star, South Africa - Lohberg is being treated for the rare blood disorder aplastic anemia. With aplastic anemia, bone marrow stops producing sufficient numbers of new blood ... Ron Fellows and Mosport hitting the ice for a good cause Lindsay Daily Post, Canada - Aug 5, 2008 The CHS serves people with inherited bleeding disorders. These bleeding disorders include hemophilia, von Willebrand disease, rare factor deficiencies and ... Grifols Biomat USA Opens New Plasma Donor Center in Lincoln MarketWatch - Jul 31, 2008 Plasma is part of the blood that contains proteins and antibodies that are needed to fight infection and help stop bleeding, among other things. ... Reaching out Bangkok Post, Thailand - Aug 4, 2008 "At birth, Nong Karn had internal bleeding in the right side of his brain which brought about irregular muscular contraction on the left side of his body. ... Young people with bleeding disorders score in the David Beckham ... Medical News Today (press release), UK - Jul 24, 2008 Haemophilia Society Chief Executive, Chris James says: "All the young people are affected by bleeding disorders like haemophilia, which means that their ...

Infectious agents pose new risks for people with bleeding disorders

A team of researchers has concluded that people with bleeding disorders such as hemophilia remain at risk from emerging infectious agents in plasma and blood transfusions.
For this reason, recombinant therapies, must always be an option.

Writing in the journal Lancet, hematologist Jamie Siegel, at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Christopher A Ludlam, at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and colleagues say that coagulation-factor concentrates ( CFC ) from the blood plasma, used for individuals with bleeding disorders, are now deemed safe from most known infectious agents, such as hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV, in contrast to two decades ago.
But challenges from new agents mean plasma-derived products will continue to remain at risk.

The authors point out that an alternative – recombinant products, which are made by expressing genes for clotting factors in the laboratory tissue culture dish – lessen the likelihood of contamination by infectious agents.

" There will always be emerging pathogens and we won't always know what they are," says Siegel, who is director of the Hemophilia Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. " We know that these pathogens may be in the blood supply, and if we have a population dependent on plasma derived products, they are always at risk."
She contends that infectious agents called prions, which are behind diseases such as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ( "Mad Cow disease" ), may be the most worrisome of all because they are difficult to detect. She is concerned about them affecting mostly young children, and their effects decades later. " We don't know if we can get rid of prions," she says. " Currently, there is no available method to diagnose and deal with them effectively."

The continued debate about the safety of the blood supply and the use of blood-derived versus artificial products for those with bleeding disorders is under the constant threat of emerging infectious agents.
Blood-derived products work better in clotting blood, but carry the caveat of potential exposure to infectious agents in the blood supply. Recombinant clotting products made in the laboratory may not be quite as effective, but are virtually risk-free from contamination.
Up until now, decisions on using blood-derived versus recombinant blood products have been left to patients and physicians. Safety studies have not definitively made the case for either.

Siegel says that she is more confident in the safety of recombinant products with respect to infectious agents and doesn't want individuals with hemophilia to again be the victims of unsafe blood products as they were in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.

Source: Thomas Jefferson University, 2006