LEUKEMIA+by+Vivienne+and+JinJin

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On February 20, 2009 it was estimated that there are over four million leukemia patients in China, and about half of them are children. Leukemia is the //second most common cause of death// among children under the age of sixteen. Only accidents kill more children around the world. Currently scientists don't know much about leukemia and it's causes, but people from all around the world are joining in research on treatment and prevention of leukemia. Now you have a chance to learn about leukemia and maybe help those with leukemia in the future.

Leukemia is a type of cancer. It is cancer of blood/marrow stem cells that produce red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. These stem cells are located in you bone marrow.

the two major types of leukemia is //myelogenous// and //lymphocytic.// To under stand these two types of leukemia lets first talk about how marrow stem cells become blood cells.

The first step in the development is turning into either a myeloid stem cell or a lymphoid stem cell. Myeloid stem cells become red blood cells, platelets, and certain types of white blood cells. Lymphoid stem cells become another type of white blood cell (lymphocytes).

Either type can be affected by leukemia. Leukemia that affects the myeloid stem cells are called myelocytic (also myelogenous, myeloblastic, or nonlymphocytic) leukemia. Leukemia that affects the lymphoid stem cells are called lymphocytic (also lymphoblastic or lymphogenous) leukemia.

In these two types of leukemia, there are two categories acute and chronic.
 * Acute:** abnormal cells grow really fast and do not mature so they cannot carry out functions of normal white blood cells. If it continues untreated, the patient can die within weeks or maybe a few months.
 * Chronic**: abnormal cells grow slowly and slowly start to accumulate in various organs. They cannot fight deseases and is no help in repairing damaged tissues. In chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, this can go on for years, but in chronic myelocytic leukemia, if the patient dosen't get treated, it will turn into acute myelocytic leukemia and will die quickly.

So the four main types of leukemia is: Acute lymphocytic leukemia, Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Acute myelocytic leukemia, and Chronic myelocytic leukemia.

There are twenty diffrent types of leukemia, some of the less common types of leukemia include hairy cell leukemia and human T-cell leukemia. But all can be divided into categories of acute and chronic.

//Quiz Question: What are the four main types of Leukemia?//