Do you remember the House MD character “thirteen” from seasons 4-8? There is a heartbreaking moment when Dr. Remy Hadley (played by Olivia Wilde), commonly known as “thirteen,” discovers that she has Huntington’s Chorea disease like her brother and her mother. So this is a genetic disease. There are many puzzles surrounding her, today we will try to solve this one: “Why didn’t she get Huntington’s test sooner even though genetic tests are available?
Caption: Actress and Angela Gots and Olivia Wilde (thirteen) in the medical drama ‘Houde MD’
Source: IMDb
Huntington’s chorea is one of the rare diseases that are autosomal dominant. Autosomal, which means that it will affect either sex, regardless of male or female. We know that we get half of our chromosome from our father and half from our mother. So being a dominant disease means that it will continue in every generation if one of our parents has it. If one parent has the disease, the chance is 50%, but if both parents have the disease, the chances increase to 75%.
The average age of onset of the disease is 40 years. There is a defect in a gene in which there is a repetition of three basic CAG DNA structures over and over again. The number of repeats determines how early in life the disease will begin and how severe it will be. And these repeats are known to increase with each generation. When the DNA is larger than required, it produces more enzymes and activities than required, making this type of disease fatal.Symptoms begin as hyperreflexia, altered mood, memory impairment, abnormal gait (walking), chorea (loss of motor control), and loss of muscle tone, dementia, and dysphagia. The symptoms gradually worsen over about 15 years until the patient dies. Unfortunately this disease is incurable so far.
Alright, now let’s get to the answer, since her mother had the disease, there’s a 50% chance she has the disease, which is pretty scary knowing that the disease progresses pretty badly and death is certain. In such a condition, it is up to the patient to choose whether to find out or not. It basically boils down to the question of whether you want to know when you’re dying, then you can either plan your life accordingly and be grateful to the world or live your life accordingly. Or you don’t choose to live in fear of death knowing you are living to a certain age. This is an ethical dilemma and it depends on the person you choose. It is also important to choose to marry and have children when you know the outcome.
Hopefully, we can find a cure for the disease and prevent such tragedies in real life.
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