Post by Logan on Feb 19, 2016 1:18:26 GMT -6
Genetic disease is ravaging Lancaster County's Amish, and helping to change medicine for all of us
STRASBURG — Soon after birth, Daniel and Rebecca Stoltzfus's first child fell ill.
Fearing pneumonia, her parents rushed her to a hospital where she later died.
Testing revealed Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare genetic disease, as the cause of death.
The condition, an inherited disorder of the immune system known colloquially as "the bubble boy disease," is present in roughly one in every 40,000 to 70,000 live births in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.
But in the Stoltzfus home, the rate is one-in-four. "We have 12 children and three of them ended up having SCID," Daniel Stoltzfus said.
Read more: www.pennlive.com/news/2016/02/genetic_disease_is_ravaging_la.html
STRASBURG — Soon after birth, Daniel and Rebecca Stoltzfus's first child fell ill.
Fearing pneumonia, her parents rushed her to a hospital where she later died.
Testing revealed Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare genetic disease, as the cause of death.
The condition, an inherited disorder of the immune system known colloquially as "the bubble boy disease," is present in roughly one in every 40,000 to 70,000 live births in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.
But in the Stoltzfus home, the rate is one-in-four. "We have 12 children and three of them ended up having SCID," Daniel Stoltzfus said.
Read more: www.pennlive.com/news/2016/02/genetic_disease_is_ravaging_la.html