Kenna+C.

**__ What is Tay-Sachs Disease? __** Tay-Sachs disease is a genetic disease occurs when a child is born without the hexosaminidas enzyme. This enzyme cleans out unwanted fatty tissue build up. This build up effects some of the baby's sight, movement, and mental developement because nerve cells become swollen in the fat. In rare cases the child may have the hexosaminidas enzyme but does not have enough of it to prevent the negative effects that occur with the disease. Tay-Sachs is fatal, and there is no cure.

Symptoms may include sight, hearing, and movement problems. The child's eye forms a red spot in the back. The child will discontinue crawling, smiling, turning over, and reaching for objects. The child usually developes problems with seizures around the age of two. During this period the child may also become completely disabled. Death most commonly occurs around the age of five. If the child has the rare form of the disease (Juvenile Hex A Defincency) these symptoms will show up later in life than in normal Tay-Sachs Disease cases. The symptoms usually will not appear until the child is anywhere from two to five years old. Death for children with Juvenile Hex A Defincency usually occurs around the age of fifteen. Other cases of this disease may cause muscle weakness and speach impediments. In this form sight, hearing, and movement abilites remain intact. Another form usually occurs while the person is in their twenties or early thirties, in this case people usually lose their brain function slowly.
 * __What are the symptoms?__ **

Some people carry the gene for this disease without knowing it because they do not have the full blown disease. For a child to acquire this disease both of the parents must be carriers of the disease. Parents can be tested to see if they are carriers of the disease before they reproduce.
 * __ Prevention? __ **

**__Cures?__** There is no cure for this disease, but doctors can prescribe medication to help with the symptoms. The medication can help with pain, seizures, and muscle spazisms. Proper nutrition and hydration may also help the child. There are also techniques to open the child's airways that improve the child's health.

__**Who is at risk?**__ Anyone can be a carrier of the disease, but some races are more prone to it than others. Ashkenazi Jewish is the most common race to have this disease, but it has shown in other races too. []

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**__Citations:__** __Kids Health from Nemours.__ Bartoshesky, Louis E. October 2008. April 6, 2009. .

National Institutes of Health. []