Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS) nursing essay

Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS)

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome is a special king of immune-deficiency disease that affects the platelets in the blood. WAS disease causes bleeding due to low amounts of platelets and presence of infections together with eczema infection on the skin.
Introduction
WAS patients have recurrent infections as a result of encapsulated organisms (Fleisher and Ludwig, 2010). Most patients suffering from WAS have the tendency of developing malignancies such as leukemia among other autoimmune diseases Mutation of genes produces Wiskott – Aldrich Syndrome Protein which are unique. Therefore, each and every family has a unique WASP mutation among the male children. A patient will have a classic mutation if the mutation is severe resulting in a complete interference with the ability of the genes to produce WAS protein in the body. In contrast, a mild disorder to a patient may occur if the patient produces mutated WAS protein in small quantities. WAS signs and symptoms WAS clinical presentation in patients varies, and some patients may end up presenting all the three classic manifestations which will include immunodeficiency and infection, low levels of platelets, and excessive bleeding. Before, some patients presented low platelets counts, and they were perceived to be suffering from X-linked thrombocytopenia (XLT). Later there was a discovery that XLT and WAS were all caused by mutations making a clinical conclusion that there was presence of different clinical forms of disorder that were similar. Initially WAS was manifested to be present soon after birth of developed in the early years of a child. ……………………………..