A child with Canavan disease will require treatment from a pediatric neurologist , pediatric ophthalmologist, and a pediatric surgeon for the installation of certain kinds of feeding tubes
Canavan disease is named after Dr. Myrtelle Canavan
Dr. Myrtelle Canavan
Canavan disease is also called aspartoacylase deficiency
It was not until 1949, that Canavan disease was recognized as a unique genetic disease by Van Bogaert and Betrand
People with Canavan disease typically have disproportionately large heads
Some people with Canavan disease may eventually become blind
DNA testing is the only means of identifying carriers of Canavan disease
I was doing a presentation on Canavan Disease and had a lot of trouble finding wether it was dominant or recessive. I found the answer and thought i should make it easier for others. Canavan Disease is recessive
Most infants with Canavan disease appear normal for the first month of life
Both the father and mother of a child have to carry a mutation in the ASPA gene in order for the child to inherit Canavan disease. If both parents are carriers, each naturally conceived child has a 25% chance of having Canavan. Although most common in people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, there are upwards of 70 mutations of the gene that have been identified so far, and they can occur in individuals from any ethnic background.
People of Saudi Arabian descent also have a relatively high risk of Canavan disease
The credit went to Dr. Canavan because his initial description of the disease dominated the medical literature