Basic Summary for Tay Sachs
Main name of condition: Tay Sachs
Other names or spellings:
What is Tay Sachs?
Brief description of Tay Sachs: Rare genetic disease leading to fatty deposits in the brain.
Parent types of Tay Sachs: Brain conditions, Genetic Disease, Autosomal Genetic Diseases, Autosomal Recessive Genetic Diseases, Recessive Genetic Diseases, Carrier conditions
Organs Affected by Tay Sachs: brain
Types of Tay Sachs: Sandhoff Disease
Who gets Tay Sachs?
Patient Profile for Tay Sachs: Infants usually after 3 months for classic type. Rarer subtype affects juveniles and young adults.
Race Profile for Tay Sachs: Most common in Ashkenazi Jews.
How serious is Tay Sachs?
Prognosis of Tay Sachs: Poor. Infants usually die by age 5.
Prognosis of Tay Sachs: Even with the best of care, children with Tay-Sachs disease usually die by age 5. 1
What causes Tay Sachs?
Cause of Tay Sachs: Genetic defect in hexosaminidase A leads to fatty deposits of ganglioside GM2 accumulate in the brain's nerve cells.
Class of Condition for Tay Sachs: genetic autosomal recessive
Risk factors for Tay Sachs: see risk factors for Tay Sachs
What are the symptoms of Tay Sachs?
Symptoms of Tay Sachs: see symptoms of Tay Sachs
Can anyone else get Tay Sachs?
Inheritance: see inheritance of Tay Sachs
Inheritance of genetic conditions: see details in inheritance of genetic diseases.
How is it treated?
Treatments for Tay Sachs: see treatments for Tay Sachs
Footnotes:
1. excerpt from NINDS Tay-Sachs Disease Information Page: NINDS
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