Tay-Sachs

Tay-Sachs

Introduction

Overview

Tay-Sachs is an inherited disorder. This means that it is transmitted from father to son. When a baby is conceived, the him / herself receives half the chromosomes from their mother and the other half comes from his father. If both parents are carriers of the deficient enzyme characteristic of Tay-Sachs, there will be approximately between 1 and 4 chance that your doctor tells you that your baby has the disease. If only one parent is a carrier of the enzyme in question, the baby will not develop Tay-Sachs, but will become a carrier of it(O'Brien et al, 1970).

Fortunately, Tay-Sachs is not very common. However, certain factors increase the risk of giving birth to a baby with this disorder. Risk factors may include:

Being a descendant of people from Central Europe or European Jews.

Being a descendant of Cajun.

Franceces-Being of Canadians.

Discussion

Symptoms of Tay-Sachs

Babies born suffering from Tay-Sachs usually are healthy until they are four months old. When you reach that age, symptoms of the disorder begin to appear. The most common symptoms of this disease include(Walker, 2007):

Gradual loss of mobility

Decline of eye contact.

Development exaggerated reflexes.

Mental and Physical development very slow.

Seizures.

Dementia.

Gradual blindness.

Gradual deafness.

Muscle atrophy can direct to paralysis.

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Causes

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Prenatal Monitoring

You can monitor your baby to see if the same / a have the Tay-Sachs before birth. The intrauterine monitoring can be conducted by your health care, which are: an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. Prenatal checkups are usually very helpful as they can help ayou aprepare afor agiving abirth ato aa ababy awith aTay-Sachs(Desnick, 2001).

Amniocentesis

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