Down’s syndrome

The condition known as Down’s syndrome is a type of genetic disorder. The condition was named so after the doctor responsible for finding this out, Mr. Langdon Down. The condition is not a frequent one and goes onto affect 1 out of 1000 babies born. The statistics show that there are almost 600 babies around UK suffering from this condition. The condition should affect ones appearance and also mental strength and abilities of learning and doing daily life chores. With better treatment in the market available today, the patients suffering from this condition can live a longer life, else it was seen that most of the patients would not live beyond 15 years of age. Also the condition has its outcomes varying from person to person.

Symptoms

The symptoms as already mentioned can vary from person to person and also depend on the severity of the condition towards the patient. The physical features can be affected by this condition with symptoms as fingers shortening, hands getting broadened with one crease in the palm, mouth is shortened, ears get smaller in size, eyes slant towards the top, tongue may also be twisted in few cases, skin on the back of the neck is lost. The patients have also been seen to lose their joints, the muscle tone goes down drastically and the weight is quite low on birth. Also with the kids suffering from this condition, a slower physical development has also been observed, which is self-explanatory from the symptoms. With a slow growth in physical terms, the mental ability also is limited and these children’s would take much more time in learning and speaking which the normal kids would do. The good part is the development is not completely stopped during this condition, but it slows down drastically.

Causes

The condition happens due to an extra chromosome in the genetic condition, which is a fault in itself. The various types of the condition are translocation, mosaic and regular trisomy 21.

Diagnosis

Mothers who are pregnant can go in for this test to find out if there are any associated risks of this condition. There is a test known as antenatal screening which should be able to find out if the condition is getting developed in the unborn baby. There are few concrete things about Down’s syndrome which cannot be found through the antenatal, so they may be found using additional tests. Doctor would do a blood test and also ultrasound tests for the antenatal screening. There are two diagnostic tests which are done by the doctors known as Chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis. These two different diagnostics are quite safe in nature to find the condition out.

Treatment

Currently there is nothing which can be done to treat the condition and the cures are just available to lower the symptoms and make the life of the patients and their family members better in dealing with this condition. The condition may have lot of emotional effects and reading more about the condition would help the parents deal with it better. There are support groups for the parents to deal with the condition also.