What Is It?
Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), is a rare genetic condition that causes a child's body to age fast. Most kids with progeria do not live past the age of 13. The disease affects both sexes and all races equally. It affects about 1 in every 4 million births worldwide.
Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), is a rare genetic condition that causes a child's body to age fast. Most kids with progeria do not live past the age of 13. The disease affects both sexes and all races equally. It affects about 1 in every 4 million births worldwide.
Treatments
Treatments usually help ease or delay some of the disease's symptoms.
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Symptoms
Most kids with progeria look healthy when they're born, but they start to show signs of the disease during their first year. Babies with progeria do not grow or gain weight normally. They develop physical traits including:
5 Interesting Facts About Progeria
1. It Is RareOnly 118 children have been identified as having progeria in the world today. This makes progeria one of the most rare childhood diseases that currently exists or is known. This is one of the reasons why research is slow in this area. 2. It Causes AgingChildren affected by progeria age extremely prematurely, and rapidly. A child in their teens with progeria often looks like someone who has lived 80 or 90 years. The average lifespan for a child diagnosed with progeria is just 14 years. 3. It Doesn’t Affect the MindOne of the most remarkable aspects of progeria is that it does not affect the mind. Even though there are significant changes in the physical bodies of kids with this disease, the children who are diagnosed with progeria are very courageous, smart, and full of life. 4. Heart Disease is a Big RiskThe biggest risk a child with progeria faces is the development of atherosclerosis. The severe hardening of their arteries begin in their early childhood, and as they reached their teen years, it becomes life-threatening. 5. There Is HopeProgeria researchers have recently begun clinical trials on three different drugs that they hope will limit the aging progress in progeria children. Although only 100 kids around the world at any given time are affected by this disease, it is 100% fatal. That is why research is so important. Breakthroughs in the treatment of progeria through gene therapy may affect the research and other disease-related fields as well. |