Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Research led by Mayo Clinic has solved a two-decade-old mystery about why so many otherwise healthy children and young people in Amish communities have been dying from sudden unexplained cardiac deaths.
Examining the DNA of four Amish siblings who suffered cardiac deaths while playing or exercising, researchers found they all had a duplication of specific genetic material that put them at risk.
Further research found the same genetic defect in children from other Amish families who suffered unexplained cardiac deaths — and that the defect could be passed down only if both birth parents carried the defect.
Genetic testing wasn’t sophisticated enough to find the defect after the deaths of the first two adolescents in 2004, and before the more recent deaths of two of their siblings. But the discovery now provides a way to find out if future generations of children are at risk, said Dr. Michael Ackerman of Mayo’s Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory.
Mayo research solves deadly Amish medical mystery
Which happens when you marry relatives.
Examining the DNA of four Amish siblings who suffered cardiac deaths while playing or exercising, researchers found they all had a duplication of specific genetic material that put them at risk.
Further research found the same genetic defect in children from other Amish families who suffered unexplained cardiac deaths — and that the defect could be passed down only if both birth parents carried the defect.
Genetic testing wasn’t sophisticated enough to find the defect after the deaths of the first two adolescents in 2004, and before the more recent deaths of two of their siblings. But the discovery now provides a way to find out if future generations of children are at risk, said Dr. Michael Ackerman of Mayo’s Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory.
Mayo research solves deadly Amish medical mystery
Which happens when you marry relatives.
