This means that Hairy cell leukemia, or a subtype of Hairy cell leukemia, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population. Ophanet, a consortium of European partners, currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000. They list Hairy cell leukemia as a rare disease.
In fact, some of the oldest alphabetic symbols have been found in Central America (2,500 years ago), China (more than 3,000 years ago), and the Middle East (more than 5,000 years ago). One of the earliest forms of the alphabet was hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were single symbols that stood for entire words.
The Phoenician alphabetic script of 22 letters was used at Byblos as early as the 15th century B.C. This method of writing, later adopted by the Greeks, is the ancestor of the modern Roman alphabet. It was the Phoenicians' most remarkable and distinctive contribution to civilization.