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Monday 30 June 2014

Blood Diseases and Diagnosis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_blood_cell

Effect of osmotic pressure on blood cells
Micrographs of the effects of osmotic pressure
  • Hemolysis is the general term for excessive breakdown of red blood cells. It can have several causes and can result inhemolytic anemia.
  • The malaria parasite spends part of its life-cycle in red blood cells, feeds on their hemoglobin and then breaks them apart, causing fever. Both sickle-cell disease and thalassemia are more common in malaria areas, because these mutations convey some protection against the parasite.
  • Polycythemias (or erythrocytoses) are diseases characterized by a surplus of red blood cells. The increased viscosity of the blood can cause a number of symptoms.
  • In polycythemia vera the increased number of red blood cells results from an abnormality in the bone marrow.
  • Hemolytic transfusion reaction is the destruction of donated red blood cells after a transfusion, mediated by host antibodies, often as a result of a blood type mismatch.
Several blood tests involve red blood cells, including the RBC count (the number of red blood cells per volume of blood), thehematocrit (percentage of blood volume occupied by red blood cells), and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Many diseases involving red blood cells are diagnosed with a blood film (or peripheral blood smear), where a thin layer of blood is smeared on a microscope slide. The blood type needs to be determined to prepare for a blood transfusion or an organ transplantation.

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