Anemia is a condition where there is a low amount of red blood cells.  This is important because red blood cells take oxygen from the lungs and deliver it throughout the body.  Anemia can be caused by many things and there are many factors involved. 

It is extremely important that there are enough red blood cells in the body.  They are the most common cell found in blood.  Red blood cells are responsible for delivering oxygen to all of the tissues and organs in the body.  When an organ or a tissue doesn’t get enough oxygen the organ will function improperly and eventually die. 

Red blood cells get the oxygen from the lungs and go throughout the body distributing the oxygen.  If there aren’t enough red blood cells, like when someone is anemic, some organs and tissues don’t receive enough oxygen, will function improperly and eventually die. 

Anemia can be both chronic and acute.  Both are dangerous yet different.  In chronic anemia symptoms there is a loss of red blood cells over a long period of time.  A loss of blood that is not detected often results in chronic anemia.  When blood is lost, the red blood cells are lost with it. With the lost red blood cells the body needs time to create more, and once the cells are made they still need to mature in the bone marrow before being released into the blood stream.  Some kinds of blood loss are constant and can go undetected for a long period of time.  Such is the case with stomach ulcers and colon sores in the intestines and the colon.  These small sores will bleed a small amount but constantly resulting in lost red blood cells.  Anemia caused by blood loss that is detected, like with menstruation, is not as severe since it is part of a natural cycle.  But when there is a serious wound and loss of blood is lost at one time, like from an injury from a car accident, it can result in acute anemia.

Both chronic and acute anemia can be dangerous.  With chronic the loss of red blood cells is constant and sometimes can go undetected for long periods of time.  This can be dangerous because there could be a lot of damage to tissues and organs and can cause many medical conditions. 

Acute anemia can be dangerous because it is a sudden death or loss of red blood cells.  It can be hard to find out why huge amounts of red blood cells are dying or aren’t being made.  With large blood loss, like from an accident, immediate medical attention will be needed or the entire body may shut down all at once. 

But if it is not blood loss causing acute anemia it can be a mystery and be very devastating trying to figure out why there is a huge death of blood cells.  There are certain types of anemia where the immune system kills the red blood cells.  Or kidney failure is another thing that can cause acute anemia.

With either kind of anemia it is important to get immediate medical attention so that you can get proper treatment and stop the destruction or red blood cells or the loss of them.