Screening for certain genetic defects can help the future generations to get rid of many undesirable inherited diseases.Screening may be done at the prenatal stage and of the newborns.Screening of carriers are also important.
Amniocentesis is a method by which many biochemical disorders and most chromosomal abnormalities can be detected at prenatal stage.Other techniques are also there to detect certain malformations caused by genetic as well as non-genetic factors.
Pregnant women over 35 years of age have higher risk of carrying a baby with Down's Syndrome.Prenatal diagnosis will indicate whether the babying the mother's womb is affected with that syndrome or free from that defect.
Many metabolic disorders can be detected by screening of blood and urine samples from newborn babies.Mass screening programs for newborns for metabolic disorders will definitely be of great use to identify children who can be treated before it is too late.
Identification of heterozygotes and avoidance of marriage among them can help to eliminate many diseases caused by recessive genes.The detection of non affected carrier in many cases can be done by simple methods.Sickle cell anaemia can be taken as an example for such measure mass screening at population level is necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment