What is infant favism?

What is infant favism? For parents, the knowledge and understanding of this disease cannot be ignored. After all, babies are still young, and any abnormal conditions in their bodies may cause more impact and harm. Therefore, we need a scientific understanding of these diseases so that we can provide targeted treatment and solutions.

G6PD deficiency, commonly known as favism, is an acute hemolytic anemia that occurs when people with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency eat broad beans.

G-6PD is an important enzyme in the metabolism of pentose phosphate. G-6PD deficiency is a single gene disease, which is inherited as a sex chromosome recessive trait. Its controlling gene is on the X chromosome. About 200 million people worldwide suffer from this disease. my country is one of the high-incidence areas of this disease, with a distribution pattern of higher in the south and lower in the north, and the prevalence rate is 0.2-44.8%. It is mainly distributed in provinces south of the Yangtze River, with the highest concentrations in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other provinces. The cause of G6PD deficiency is a mutation in the G6PD gene, which leads to reduced activity of the enzyme. Red blood cells cannot resist oxidative damage and are destroyed, causing hemolytic anemia. The clinical manifestations are roughly the same as those of general hemolytic anemia.

The incidence of favism is quite complicated. For example, favism only occurs in people with G6PD deficiency, but not all people with G6PD deficiency will experience hemolysis after eating broad beans; people who have had favism eat broad beans every year, but they may not develop the disease every year; the degree of hemolysis and anemia in the patients has no parallel relationship with the amount of broad beans eaten; the incidence rate in adults is significantly lower than that in children.

Favism has an acute onset, with hemolysis occurring in most cases within 1 to 2 days after eating fresh broad beans. The shortest interval can be as short as 2 hours, while the longest can be as long as 9 days. If the disease is caused by inhaling pollen, symptoms can appear within minutes. The length of the incubation period has nothing to do with the severity of symptoms.

The above is some common sense introduction to infant favism and the causes of the disease. Only by scientifically understanding this common sense can we effectively prevent infants from being affected by this problem and ensure their health. Therefore, parents should pay attention to these issues when taking care of their babies.