Comments on: DNA-Snipping Enzymes Cure Hemophilia in Mice

By: Veronique Greenwood

Veronique Greenwood — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:49:36 +0000

To everyone who commented, I’m glad to hear that you and your family members with hemophilia are doing relatively well!

To address your comments, the modern treatments that manage to keep the disease more or less at bay are recent developments. For most of human history, hemophilia was quite a bit more dangerous than it is now (though it’s certainly no picnic today). Before the clotting factor injections became available, through the first half of the 20th century, hemophiliacs regularly did not reach adulthood. A family friend of mine lost her brother to a fairly minor wound when he was a child, before the injections were available.

Simply because most hemophiliacs, with treatment, can avoid catastrophic bleeding, doesn’t mean that it’s wrong to say that it’s possible. But thank goodness none of you have had that experience!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:33:09 +0000

I have a 4 year old son with hemophilia. When you tell someone that he has hemophilia the conversation inevitably goes to uncontrollable bleeding (even from a minor cut) or AIDs (due to Ryan White). The uncontrollable bleeding from a minor injury is very much a fallacy, and the AIDs belief is no longer an issue for children born nowadays thanks to synthetic factor that is not a blood product. I’m surprised that a scientific publication would run with one of the most innane rumors about hemophilia. At least with the AIDs implication there was a time where that was true.

By: mom

mom — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:49:14 +0000

KEEP GOING KEEP GOING!! as a new mother of a child with severe hemophilia A i think any news of successful ongoing trials is exciting. i am hopeful that someday some smart scientist somewhere will find the cure and it be available to everyone. we put people on the moon for crying out loud, we will have the cure for hemophilia. just a matter of when, and i hope soon! staying positive and having hope is the only way i can accept this right now. i dont know what to expect, and the thought of my precious baby boys future being filled with pain, is a heartbreak beyond coping with.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:29:15 +0000

The stereotype in the first paragraph aside, I think the most important and interesting aspect of this article is that there is truly meaningful and exciting research being done by bright people who want to cure this disorder. While I realize the odds of being able to look my son square in the eye and tell him one day that he is cured from this disorder, research like this at least gives me hope…especially on the tough days.

By: Molly

Molly — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 06:17:45 +0000

As a new mother of son who has Hemophilia I was also disgusted with the opening line about cuts and bleeding to death. That is exactly the type of generalization and uneducated statements the hemophilia community is trying to avoid. My son will live a full life and be as normal as any other child. When he gets a cut, we will put a band aid on it.

I am happy to hear about new breakthroughs and hope there will one day be a cure which will lead to cures of other diseases, but just like Samuell points out, we are not there from one mouse. But fingers crossed!

By: Samuell Price

Samuell Price — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:48:40 +0000

I have hemophilia and this sounds great, but I have heard this for years. I will be convinced once it is on the shelves and available to anyone that needs the treatment or “cure”. I am also a biologist and have worked in a lab environment. I know how we can “demonstrate” a potential cure and it be only 1 out of 1000 specimens that survived the cure. I want to see the long term results of the cure to the animal over its lifetime. What happens to the next generation of the mouse? Is its genes also affected or mutated worse? Please don’t brag about a ‘cure’ until it has been tested and proven by many separate labs.

As for the article it self, Guys get your facts right about the symptoms. I have had many cuts in my life and NEVER bleed to death. In fact some were deep enough to require many stitches. Like Doomsayer General says, it is the joints that the bleeding is most harmful not the surface cuts. Other wise we would of all bleed to death every time we got our factor injection.

By: Laura Snyder

Laura Snyder — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:35:24 +0000

Not sure I’d want to sign up my 2 boys with Type A with inhibitors for something that is trusted to a virus. If we knew more about virus patterns and their particulars, a good chunk of our diseases would be cured. And I second the ‘rapidly bleed to death’ misnomer-Hemophilia 101 basic info disproves that myth.

By: Doomsayer General

Doomsayer General — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:30:40 +0000

Not to belabor the point, but my stepson also still has platelets that do a decent job of knitting surface wounds without factor. The bleeding is more of an internal issue. Especially in the joints.

You should correct your mistake so as not to spread further misinformation.

By: Doomsayer General

Doomsayer General — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 03:23:50 +0000

My stepson has hemophilia (A) and he won’t “rapidly bleed to death from even small cuts.” He doesn’t clot but he doesn’t bleed *more* than the average person. So unless that small cut is to an artery or something, I don’t see how he’d bleed to death even if he didn’t get his Factor 8 shots. I’m used to hearing these sorts of “bleeder” stereotypes from people who don’t know jack, but from Discovery? Come on guys.

By: gian

gian — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:13:09 +0000

OMG!