Congenital haemorrhage - The disease is hard to cure, easy to prevent

Vietnam has 12 million people carrying the gene of congenital hemorrhage (Thalassemia), each year more than 8,000 children are born sick, of which more than 2,000 children with severe illness need to be treated for life . This is an incurable disease, but it is easy to prevent through screening and detection of disease genes in pre-marriage or prenatal diagnosis.

Late regret

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quy (1985, Bac Giang) had two children, To Minh Nguyen (2010) and To Thi Thanh Huong (2008), who had congenital hemorrhagic disease under treatment at Thalassemia Center, National Institute of Hematology - Blood Transfusion. .

Think "healthy parents, children born healthy" , did not expect both of their siblings have congenital hemorrhagic disease, now have to take the hospital is home.

Nearly 10 years ago, Mr. Thu and Ms. Quy and his wife were very happy to welcome their two children. From being pregnant to giving birth to a poor family, they do not intend to go to the doctor or test with simple thoughts: 'Healthy parents, children born will also be healthy'.

In 2012, Nguyen had abnormal signs, pale skin, anorexia, big belly, yellow eyes. The couple let me go to the doctor, was diagnosed with a congenital hemorrhagic disease , a disease that requires lifelong treatment, inherited from both parents . But everything did not stop there, after a while, Huong was diagnosed with a brother-like illness. Mrs. Quy seemed to stand dead, the whole family felt like the sky was collapsing, there was no more hope.

Since then, every month, Mrs. Quy and her husband took 2 children to the Blood Transfusion Institute. The family was difficult, the more difficult. If only he and his wife knew about the disease earlier, went to work before marriage or had a prenatal diagnosis, then perhaps their children would not suffer as much.

New hope

They were consulted by doctors in Thalassem Center and knew many cases of parents carrying disease but still gave birth to healthy children through prenatal screening and diagnosis .

The couple's hopes were once again grouped up. Wishing to have a healthy child, in 2015, the couple decided to become pregnant with their third child. This time, very carefully, they went to the doctor for advice, amniocentesis and do all the tests as directed. .

While waiting for the test results, Ms. Quy worried every hour, many sleepless nights. Then finally luckily smiled at the couple, the baby in the abdomen was not sick. Ms. Quy was thrilled to share her feelings of joy at the time: 'I do not dare think that the family has a chance to give birth to a healthy baby. At that time, I also cried, but unlike the previous times, these are tears of happiness'. In 2016, the birth of To Thi Khanh Linh was born, only carrying the disease.

Vietnam has 12 million carriers of Thalassemia gene , accounting for a very large proportion of the nation's population. This is a difficult disease to treat, but easy to prevent . Each year, the Center of Thalassemia advises, appoints about 300 couples to screen and diagnose before birth Thalassemia , from which hundreds of healthy babies were born.

Thalassemia is an inherited blood disease in both men and women. The disease has two prominent manifestations: anemia and iron overload in the body, people with Thalassemia disease are often physically retarded, with many complications due to anemia and iron overload. There is currently no treatment for disease, mainly symptomatic treatment for life.