The number of people with Friedreich’s Ataxia is high in Paphos, especially the villages of Kathikas and Arodes, director of the Thalassaemia clinic at Paphos General Hospital Annita Kolnakou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Sunday.
Friedreich’s Ataxia is an inherited disease that affects the brain, the spinal column and the nerves. According to Kolnakou, it was brought to Cyprus by the Crusaders.
Kolnakou said two thirds of patients come from the Paphos area, saying a few years ago there were 100 carriers and 23 patients in Paphos, while recently carriers have also been identified in villages near Limassol.
“The scientific information points to the disease starting from just one carrier and it has been passed on genetically,” Kolnakou said.
She said the disease is inherited in the same way as thalassaemia; if both parents are carriers the child has a 25 per cent chance of having the disease and a 50 per cent chance of being a carrier.
She said the first symptoms appear between the ages of five and 15, although this can be as early as 18 months and as late as 30-40 years old, although they have usually appeared by the time someone is 25.
Kolnakou said the numbers in Cyprus were surprisingly high as globally the figure is one in 50,000 people are suffered, whereas in Europe it is one in 29,000.
Research carried out by the Institute of Neurology and Genetics in Cyprus and the ministry of health showed the number of carriers in Cyprus is one in ten compared to a European average of one in 100, and in some villages of Paphos it can be as high as one in six, the highest in the world.
Symptoms include difficulty walking, cramps and numbness in hands and feet, tiredness, reduction in hearing and vision, erratic beating of the heart, difficulty breathing and heart failure.
If caught in the early stages, drugs can slow down the development of the disease but Kolnakou said there was no cure.
She said the aim was to inform all newly weds about testing before child birth so that the disease can be controlled in the same way that thalassaemia has been, which has seen the birth of thalassaemic children on the island almost wiped out.
The post Disease brought by Crusaders high in Paphos appeared first on Cyprus Mail.
Read more → https://cyprus-mail.com/2018/06/17/disease-brought-by-crusaders-high-in-paphos/
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