Facts about muscular dystrophy

Most people understand that muscular dystrophy (MD) refers to a group of disorders that weakens and wastes the muscles and makes it difficult or even impossible for those affected to have normal movement. But did you know there is a gender component to some forms, and that other forms of the disease develop only in adulthood?

Some little-known facts about muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder – people who develop it are born with it. It is caused by missing or incorrect information in sufferers’ genes which prevents their bodies from producing the proteins needed to maintain healthy muscles.

Muscular dystrophy can be present in the genes of carriers without them realising it. In some forms the genes that cause the disease are recessive, meaning it skips one or more generations, while in other forms women are carriers but show no symptoms of the disease.

There are more than 70 different types of muscle dystrophy and neuromuscular disorders.

In South Africa, one in every 1 200 people is affected by muscle dystrophy or neuromuscular disorders.

Three of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy affects only or mostly males. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) exclusively affects males, while most of MD sufferers with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) are boys.

First evidence of most forms of the disease is usually seen in infancy, childhood or by adolescence, but MD is not exclusively a childhood disorder. Other types can develop later in life, some forms even presenting symptoms for the first time in adulthood.

Although there is no cure yet, some forms of MD can be treated effectively with medicines. Prednisone may help sufferers of Duchenne MD, and a medicine called mexilitine is used to relax muscles in people suffering from myotonic MD, a form of MD in which the muscles have difficulty relaxing. While the medicines can slow the progression of the disease and improve quality of life, it does not affect the final outcome of the disease.

Sources
kidshealth.org
www.health24.com
www.mdsa.org.za
www.muscle.ca
www.muscular-dystrophy.org