Progeria
By Allison Burke and Isabelle Malik
What is your disorder?
Progeria is a rare genetic disorder that causes accelerated aging.What kind of disorder is it?
Progeria is a autosomal recessive disorder.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of Progeria include that they don't gain weight, they have a thin nose and lips, there is hair loss, their skin is dry and wrinkled, and they are really short.
What is the average age of onset and is it gender specific?
Progeria is not gender specific and the average age of onset is between 7-27 years.
What are the treatments?
Some of the treatments for Progeria include psychological treatment and physical treatment. Some medications include Nitroglycerin, Atorvastain, Simvastatin, Pravastain, and FTIs.
How does it affect a person's life?
Progeria can affect a persons life in numerous ways. For example, although they still can play sports, they can't be on sports teams because they can get hurt very easily because of their fragile bones. Another example is, they can't have children because they die young and their small body type.
Give an example of what scientists are doing to help eliminate or treat this disorder?
Leslie Gordon (who's son also had Progeria) helped researchers develop a drug called lonafarnib. It helps open up the blood vessels so the patients would be less likely to have heart attacks. They experimented this drug on 28 children with Progeria and they got remarkable results with it. Some children had less seizures and trips to the hospital after taking it for a certain period of time.