New Prenatal Blood Test for Genetic Disorders

A new blood test has been developed to screen for genetic disorders in unborn babies. That is good and bad news. Typically speaking parents would want to know if their unborn baby had a genetic defect before birth so they could mental prepare for the it. In some cases even, seek the help of a specialist who could repair a genetic defect after the baby was born.

The bad news is knowing that your unborn child has a genetic disorder than cannot be repaired. Knowing that your baby may never see their first birthday or grow up with a severe handicap that could leave them both severely mentally and or physically handicap.

Genetic Disorders Discovered by the New Test

The new blood test, which will not be available for another five years will screen for chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome. It will also screen for single gene diseases and conditions such as Tay-Sachs (“the disease is a fatal genetic lipid storage disorder in which harmful quantities of a fatty substance called ganglioside GM2 build up in tissues and nerve cells in the brain.) Cystic Fibrosis is another disease the blood test can detect.

More Positive Side of the Test

The test will also allow parents to know what the baby’s gender is even color eyes the baby has. Doctors stress the importance of genetic testing now with the tests that are available they figure the new test will offer more information to the parents and will be inexpensive so currently only 100,000 women have a genetic test done a year they expect that number to jump to three million.

Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/20/news/la-heb-fetal-gene-screening...