History of Hemophilia
History of Hemophilia
Early Historical References
Hemophilia has been known since ancient times. The earliest written references date back to the 2nd century AD in Jewish texts, where male infants were exempted from circumcision if previous brothers had died due to excessive bleeding.
The Jewish physician Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) recognized its hereditary nature. Similarly, the Arabic physician Albucasis (1013–1106) described families in which males died after minor injuries.
In 1803, John Conrad Otto, a physician from Philadelphia, published the first modern medical description titled “An Account of a Hemorrhagic Disposition Existing in Certain Families.” He identified that the disorder mainly affects males and is inherited through families.
The term “Hemophilia” was first used in 1828 by Hopff at the University of Zurich. Hemophilia B was later identified in 1952 and is also known as “Christmas Disease.”
Hemophilia – The Royal Disease
Hemophilia is often called “The Royal Disease” because it spread through several European royal families.
The most famous carrier was Queen Victoria. Although she had no known family history of the disorder, her son Leopold was born with Hemophilia in 1853 and later died from a brain hemorrhage at age 31.
Two of Queen Victoria’s daughters, Alice and Beatrice, were carriers and passed the condition to royal families in Spain and Russia. This helped spread Hemophilia among European nobility.