Mike

Mike

=Prader-Willi Syndrome=

Prader-Willi Syndrome is an autosomal disorder in which seven genes on chromosome 15 are deleted. It was first reported by three endocrinologists Prader, Labhart, and Willi. The most prominent symptom is the excessive amount of food that a patient eats. There have been multiple TV shows on this disease focusing on this aspect of it. Patients are typically obese with small hands and feet, and short in height. The disease has 2 phases. Phase 1 occurs in infancy when the child shows a lack of bowel movements, and a lack of muscle development. Phase 2 occurs around age 2 or 3 that is when the compulsive need to eat emerges. They also hit puberty much later than everyone else. It is said that 1 in 10,000 people have the disease, despite that it is classified as a rare disease by The Office of Rare Diseases (ORD). The disease is often hard to spot because it is a spectrum disease, like autism, meaning that the symptoms can be very mild to severe. Unlike the other diseases we could have researched this one does not have a specific life expectancy, people with the disease can die early in childhood due to obesity, or live into their old age based on where they are within the spectrum. The way the disorder develops can be influenced by the type of food the patient eats, if they gorge themselves with healthy food, they will still become overweight because they are still over-eating but they will gain weight slower.

Sources: Prader Willi Syndrome by Jackie Waters Management of Prader Willi Syndrome My dad's coworker's son