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Waardenburg Syndrome Research Paper

Decent Essays

Destiny Morales
Mr. Belmont
College Composition 2
23 January 2017
Cause and Effect
Causes and Effects of Waardenburg Syndrome Waardenburg syndrome is a group of genetic conditions that are inherited and are congenital or evident from birth that can result in hearing loss and changes in coloration or pigmentation in the hair, skin, and eyes. It was named after Johannes Waardenburg, who was the first to notice that people with two different colored eyes frequently had hearing problems. Waardenburg syndrome is classified into 6 different syndromes depending on the symptoms of the person, which are; Waardenburg syndrome type 2A (WS2A), Waardenburg syndrome type 2B (WS2B), Waardenburg syndrome type 3 or Klein Waardenburg syndrome (WS3), Waardenburg …show more content…

The disorder affects 1 out of 40,000 newborns (Atlas Genetics). Almost 90% of patients with this disease have a parent with the disease, but the symptoms in the parent can be very different from the symptoms in the child (MedlinePlus). Waardenburg syndrome type 1 (WS1) and type 2 (WS2) are inherited as autosomal dominant traits, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to cause Waardenburg syndrome (GHR). Manifestations of the disorder may not be present in individuals that inherit the altered gene for the disease. Some cases of the disorder, such as type 3 (WS3) and type 4 (WS4) have an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. Type 1 and type 2 of Waardenburg syndrome can also be acquired even when there is no family history of the disorder. The disorder can be caused from new genetic changes that occur spontaneously for unknown reasons. Researches indicate that new sporadic mutations for type 1 of Waardenburg syndrome may be associated with the advanced age of the father. In dominant disorders, a single copy of the gene with the disease that is either received from the mother of father will be expressed in the offspring by dominating the other normal gene, which causes the result in the appearance of the syndrome (Rare …show more content…

Treatment for Waardenburg syndrome is directed towards the specific symptoms that are apparent in each individual. If an individual has loss of pigmentation in the skin, loss of hearing, or loss of sight, they can see specialists for the specific needs that need to be treated. Waardenburg syndrome can be caused by many genes and it can effect a person in many different ways depending on the gene that is

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