Progeria

Progeria

Imagine being only six years old but feeling and looking like a seventy-five year old. Sounds like something out of the movies doesn’t it? Believe it or not, there is a real disease that makes you a lot older than you really are; it’s called Progeria. I picked this disease because I have seen many documentaries on it and was fascinated by how rare and different this disease is.

Progeria is a very rare, unprevented, genetic disorder. It affects only one in four million births. Progeria affects both boys and girls; and cases have been reported in places all over the world. As of December 2010, only 78 people were living with progeria. (progeriaresearch.org).

Since progeria is genetic, the only way to get it is to be born with it Progeria is caused by a mutation in a gene called the LMNA gene. The mutation isn’t commonly passed down through a family, so seeing more than one child within a family with progeria is extremely rare. (progeriaresearch.org) There is no way to prevent progeria, as mentioned before, it is a genetic disease. Scientists don’t believe that it is linked within families; only one out of one hundred cases of progeria are passed down from generation to generation. (Nordqvist).

When a child with progeria is born, they are normal and healthy. It is not until about ten to twenty-four months the child shows the symptoms of progeria. The signs of progeria are growth failure during the first year, an ‘old’ looking face, baldness, absence of eyebrows/eye lashes, small stature, and a bigger head than normal children their age. Other symptoms may include aged looking skin, joint stiffness, and cardiac and respiratory problems/diseases (such as heart disease), and strokes. The doctor will run tests to see if the child in fact has progeria. These tests may range from an insulin test, heart tests, or; the key test to diagnosing progeria, the test that finds the genetic mutation that cause the disease. (Nordqvist).

Ninety percent of...