Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Introduction

T he fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a medical condition affecting a newborn because her mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. The baby then has permanent mental and physical defects of varying severity. Women are indeed more vulnerable to alcohol to equal consumption of alcohol by men. The alcohol in the blood rises higher in women than in men. Poisoning in utero is responsible for an embryo fetopathy alcoholic (1 to 3 per thousand births and leading cause of acquired mental retardation in children). The consequences of drinking during pregnancy as a cause of delay in the mental achievements have long remained unknown, and potentially dangerous to the fetus of even moderate doses of alcohol ingestion or occasional. Since few years in the United States, the public health authorities recommend zero consumption of alcohol during the time of pregnancy.

In the countries of Eastern Europe, this public health problem is thirty to forty times more widespread than in Western Europe, but the syndrome is often not diagnosed or not specified in the medical record of a child.

Discussion

The diagnosis of FAS in the neonatal period can be difficult because of incomplete forms in most cases. It is important to systematically evoke FAS before overall growth retardation and head circumference below normal (Tourmaa, 1994). In the absence of dysmorphia, alcohol is responsible of disturbance neurobehavioral, but the minimum threshold value is not determined precisely.

In adoption, parents are generally unaware of the conditions of pregnancy. Consequently, the FAS can remain undiagnosed for years, years when the child is not receiving care that would improve its long-term development. This is irreversible damage to the child's brain by alcohol. This syndrome has no racial or geographical boundaries and can affect both children born here and across the world. It leads to malfunctions of central nervous system of prenatal and postnatal growth and delayed some specific facial features.

FAS is sometimes called an invisible disability because its effects are subtle and difficult to diagnose, especially in mild cases. Young children are affected by FAS and are often affectionate, tender and very friendly and these qualities are considered to hide their disability.

FAS may be more or less severe (Thomas, Et.al, 1998). All cases are possible, ranging from serious disabilities to behavioral problems or mild learning. In mild cases, the diagnosis at an early age is more difficult. Thus, in adoption, parents are generally unaware of the conditions of pregnancy. Consequently, the FAS can remain undiagnosed for years, years when the child is not receiving care that would improve its long-term development. Children with FAS may be misdiagnosed as hyperactive or as children with learning disabilities not caused by physical disabilities. This delays their development and the care they provide may be inappropriate.

Doctors advise pregnant women during their pregnancy to avoid alcohol on principle. Because every year according to estimates by the "Federal Centre for Health Education" up to 10,000 children with a mental or physical damage to the world, which was caused by the more ...