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| India-Pakistan |
| Woes of marriage between cousins |
| 2011-04-22 |
| [Dawn] A young couple in capital city is grieving because they lost their second child to congenital heart disease. Their 11-year-old son Ahsan Hussain died in 2007 of heart attack caused by high cholesterol. Last week, his sister Areeba Amjad, 13, died of the same cause. Both were under treatment to lower their cholesterol level since they attained the age of three. Their father Amjad Hussain told Dawn: "I have lost my children because both of them were suffering from high cholesterol and the doctor has recommended us for a liver transplant." The doctors said what the couple really needed to rid of their hereditary condition was liver transplant which is not available in Pakistain. "It's too costly to have a liver transplant from outside Pakistain," said Mr Hussain. He said doctors had told him it was a family disease caused by inter-marriages. Mr Hussain is married to his cousin, both of them hailing from a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... tribe. "We were not aware of the disease of Ahsan till he was three-year-old and within a span of few days chickenpox developed on his arms. We consulted a pediatrician who recommended a few tests. Later, it was revealed that he had high cholesterol level," he said. The doctors, he said, recommended the couple to lessen the fatty food and use of oil in Ahsan's diet. And my daughter was later also diagnosed with the same disease in almost the same age of three. "We had no option but to keep a close eye on both the kids giving them dry food with less oil till Ahsan died in 2007," he added. Areeba, he said, also passed through the same stage till she died last week. Mr Hussain is now left with his only daughter, Tehreem, 2. He said most of his elder family members died of heart attack and high cholesterol level. Prof Mehmood Jamal, a leading pediatrician and executive director of the Pakistain Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), when approached for comments, said: "Inherited diseases are generally very serious and in case of Mr Amjad's kids, genetic disease had led to the death of his two kids." He said both the children were suffering from hyperlipidimia, which occurs when you have too many fatty substances, including cholesterol, in your blood. "We have to go through their medical history before making a final opinion but it is evident from the statement of Mr Hussain that high cholesterol level of a genetic disorder in their family has led to the death of the children," said the professor. He said genetic diseases were common and high among siblings of those families where inter-marriages rate was high. He said in western countries pre-marriage disease screening was a routine to save the next generation from a genetic disease. Rof Jamal said a liver transplant unit was being established at Pims on the directive of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 Mongrels do have advantages, y'know. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2011-04-22 21:34 |
| #10 Hybrid vigor. That's the USA. |
| Posted by: KBK 2011-04-22 21:15 |
| #9 One of the unexpected benefits of 19th Century railroad expansion was the ability to move to pools beyond the 20 miles that most people spent their lifetimes around for most of human history. Even a hundred years ago, most people lived in towns, villages, and in the rural countryside. Urbanization which we take for granted is only something very recent except for those rare points in history of the rise and fall of empires. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-04-22 15:49 |
| #8 Woes of marriage between cousins "His family tree don't fork." |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-04-22 15:12 |
#7 The case of Charles II of Spain (1661-1700) illustrates the consequences of about a century of inbreeding:"Dating to approximately the year 1550, outbreeding in Charles II's lineage had ceased. From then on, all his ancestors were in one way or another descendants of Joanna the Mad and Philip I of Castile, and among these just the royal houses of Spain, Austria and Bavaria. Charles II's genome was actually more homozygous than that of an average child whose parents are siblings.[2] He was born physically and mentally disabled, and disfigured." link In all likelihood cousin marriage has been a cultural tradition of this 'Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa tribe' for far longer than a century. I wouldn't be surprised if, like Charles II, all the members of this tribe were more homozygous than the offspring of siblings in the general gene pool. |
| Posted by: Gremp Fillmore4930 2011-04-22 14:47 |
| #6 just let them alone to continue with their aniamlistic mating practices. Its suites them fine and is yet another reminder of the power of karma. |
| Posted by: 746 2011-04-22 12:17 |
| #5 He said in western countries pre-marriage disease screening was a routine to save the next generation from a genetic disease. IOW: "Are you first cousins or closer? Yes? Then get over your social fears and find someone else to marry." |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-04-22 09:57 |
| #4 when the family tree looks like a stick.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-04-22 08:29 |
| #3 The problem is a refusal to understand cause & effect. Most other human cultures figured this out millennia ago. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-04-22 07:50 |
| #2 The problem is not so much one generation of first cousin marriage. It is generation after generation of first cousin marriage. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2011-04-22 07:41 |
| #1 We have seen a lot of things of this nature in some Alaska villages, where the gene pool was limited for a number of years. The cure, of course, is to stop procreating children between cousins (sort of incest lite), but that is a hurdle that will have to overcome the culture. Good luck with that one. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-04-22 03:19 |