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.
All civilizations have had forms of writing and reading. People first used pictures as words. The Babylonians and ancient Egyptians passed beyond this stage and used hieroglyphics, which contained symbols along with pictures. In 1200 B.C., the Phoenicians, with their alphabet, were the first people to read sounds from letter symbols rather than from pictures. All the letters were capitals, and no spaces were left between words in sentences. Because the letters were printed by hand, they sometimes changed shape and were difficult to read.