# Diamond Blackfan anemia is characterized by:
A. Inherited thrombocytopenia
B. Inherited leucopenia
C. Erythroid aplasia
D. All of the above
The correct answer is C. Erythroid aplasia.
Diamond–Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a congenital erythroid aplasia that usually presents in infancy. DBA causes low red blood cell counts (anemia), without substantially affecting the other blood components (the platelets and the white blood cells), which are usually normal. This is in contrast to Shwachman–Bodian–Diamond syndrome, in which the bone marrow defect results primarily in neutropenia, and Fanconi anemia, where all cell lines are affected resulting in pancytopenia.
First noted by Hugh W. Josephs in 1936, the condition is however named for the pediatricians Louis K. Diamond and Kenneth Blackfan, who described congenital hypoplastic anemia in 1938.