Can only Jews get the Tay Sachs disease?

Answer 1

No; this is a common misconception. Anyone whose parents are both carriers of the gene for Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) may become afflicted with TSD. That being said, TSD is most common among the Ashkenazi Jewish population as approximately 1 in every 27 Ashkenazi Jewish people is a carrier of the faulty gene. In the general population, about 1 in every 300 people carries the gene for TSD. In the French-Canadian population, the Cajun population of Louisiana, and the Amish population of Pennsylvania, the faulty gene that causes TSD is a little bit more common (but still less common than in the Ashkenazi Jewish population).