Leukemia affects the bone marrow in our body. It results in the rapid and abnormal production of white blood cells. Every year, almost 45,000 people are affected by this disease. There are many common types of leukemia and are classified by how fast they progress. Here are some common types of leukemia.

• Acute lymphocytic leukemia – ALL
  This type of leukemia is more commonly diagnosed in children. It starts developing in the B or T lymphocytes that are also known as immature white blood cells. ALL can attack the entire bone marrow and even spread to the liver, lymph nodes, and spleen. This disease can be further classified based on its progression rate and the lymphocytes it attacks.
• Acute myeloid leukemia – AML
  This leukemia is the most common among adults. The progression rate of this disease is rapid, and it affects all the different elements of the blood. This affects the blood in two ways-
  • Attack the lymphoid cells that change into white blood cells.
  • Attack the myeloid cells, which can become white blood cells, red blood cells, or platelets.

This disease spreads throughout the body, so it can overtake the normal cells in the blood.

• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia – CLL
  Almost one-third of the leukemia diagnosis turns out to be CLL and affects people in their 40s or 50s. One of the CLL types is slowly progressing, and symptoms are not visible for many years after getting affected. On the other hand, another kind of CLL is rapidly progressing. CLL mainly affects the B lymphocytes and then takes over the normal cells.
• Chronic myeloid leukemia – CML
  This is a rare kind of leukemia, and only about 10% of people are affected by it. CML happens when the myeloid cells in the body change into cancer cells. They then reproduce and take over the normal cells in the blood and bone marrow. All types of CML are hard to treat.
• Hairy cell leukemia – HCL
  This is a subtype of CLL and develops slowly in the body. This kind of disease results in the production of excess B cells used to fight off infections. As these cells increase in number, they take over the white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
• Myelodysplastic syndromes – MDS
  This is a group of diseases that affects the production of red and white blood cells and platelets by the bone marrow. This is a rare disease as only 13,000 people a year are diagnosed with this in America. This is also known as a preleukemia condition as people having MDS can also then develop acute leukemia.

These are the common types of leukemia. If you are at risk, you should g see a doctor and make a plan of action.