Overview of Bone Marrow Diseases

Aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) can strike any person of any age, of any gender or any race, in any neighborhood, anywhere in the world.  These life-threatening noncontagious diseases affect thousands of men, women, and children every year.  
  
In most cases, the cause of the disease is unknown.  Bone marrow disease has been linked to environmental factors to which we are all commonly exposed.  Researchers suspect that undefined genetic factors make some individuals more susceptible to bone marrow disease than others. 
 
Aplastic anemia and PNH appear to be more common in the Far East than in the United States.  A formal epidemiologic study conducted in Thailand by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes confirmed this to be true of aplastic anemia.   These diseases are suspected to be more common in Russia, Vietnam, and India as well as  Mexico and countries in Africa and South America. 
  
Many celebrities have been stricken with aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. The physical chemist and Nobel Prize recipient Madame Curie and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt succumbed to aplastic anemia.  Carl Sagan, astronomer and science writer, Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, Congressman Joe Moakley of  Massachusetts, Congressman Robert Matsui of California, and writer Susan Sontag all died from myelodysplastic syndromes.  

Bone Marrow and Blood Production
Aplastic Anemia
Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria
Learn More About Your Disease 
Glossary

Last modified: November 10, 2006