Anaemia is a unique phenomenon that often represents a range of effects around the body. It usually represents the fact that the total red blood cell count is lower than normal or that the protein compound called haem, which is responsible for the binding of oxygen to the red blood cell is less than it should be.
When either fact is the true position of things, the person is said to have anaemia. The average red blood cell count in an average sized adult weighing about 70 kilogrammes is between 5.5 and 6 million red blood cells. When taken together with the plasma and the other components of the blood, they usually bring the total average blood volume to the average of 5.5 to 6 liters. More accurately, this figure is assumed to be the case when the blood of any person is spun in a tiny capillary tube in a centrifuge and a figure expressed as a percentage is obtained. That figure is known as the packed cell volume, or PCV.
