Little's Disease

Little - illness

*Syn.: little syndrome, Little Congenital anemia, Littlelor rubella, Littlekranz.*

**Definition.** __Little -__ congenital anemia with microcytic hyporegenerative anemia and thrombocytopenia. Caused by a chromosomal mutation leading to the appearance of three alleles of the _PDGFRA_ (_platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha_) gene on one chromosome.

**Historical Background** The disease was first described by James Little (W. J. Little) in 1884 as a transient red discoloration of the face in a newborn with muscle weakness, deep drowsiness, shortness of breath and hemorrhages on the skin or mucous membranes of the digestive tract [1]. Later, in 1906, the same author identified a new form of microspherocytosis - rubella rubella, which differs from classical rubella by the presence of small, slightly deformed red blood cells with lemon-shaped lobules (from the Latin ballionus - lemon) (Ballon Cellemia or Ballon Disease) [2]. With increasing number of observations, it became clear that the difference between these two forms lies mainly in the shape of the red blood cell. The most typical sign of the two forms of the disease, both rubella and Littles rubella, is a slight increase in hemoglobin in the blood, and both types have been described as characteristic of premature infants who are developmentally delayed. Currently described in 1839 by Edward Ross, Dull Disease is classified as a childhood viral infection, the virus of which was isolated in 2010.

Forms of microspherocytes caused by a deficiency of glycosylation enzymes (glycosylphosphate dehydrogenases) have also been isolated: Menke's disease and Goldberg spherocytosis. The definition of the disease began to be made by the presence of characteristic morphological changes in the peripheral blood. TO