King Harald V of Norway died at 89, as confirmed in an official statement released on Friday (28). The monarch had been hospitalized since August 17 at the National Hospital of Oslo, Rikshospitalet, due to complications related to hemolytic anemia.
Hemolytic anemia is a disease that causes abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells, caused by the body's own antibodies, so-called "autoantibodies." There are three different types of the disease: warm, in which autoantibodies react most strongly at the body temperature of 37°C; cold, when the destruction of red blood cells occurs at temperatures between 4°C and 18°C; and mixed, in which the two types of autoantibodies coexist.
The cause of hemolytic anemia is not always identified, but it can be secondary to the presence of other autoimmune diseases, such as cancer (lymphomas and leukemias), lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, among other conditions.
