Typically once a family has produced an affected child, there will be no more affected in the family, although it is not known why this is the case.
Achondroplasia is a disease that affects the bone growth in the arms and legs. Achondroplasia, coming from Greek, literally means “without cartilage formation.” Sufferers from achondroplasia do possess cartilage. During the development in the womb, cartilage forms into bone. When the development from cartilage to bone is prolonged, the bones take longer to form and this creates a shorter stature.
About eighty percent of the suffers from achondroplasia are affected because of the mutation through the process listed above. The other twenty percent are affected through a faulty gene on the number four chromosome. The faulty gene is passed from generation to generation. If only one parent is affected, there is a fifty percent chance a child will be affected. If both parents are affected, then there is a fifty percent chance the child will be affected, a twenty-five percent chance the child will go unaffected, and a twenty-five percent chance that the child will suffer from severe skeletal disfiguration that will be lethal.
Achondroplasia: What Is It?
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks.
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