A British toddler born with an extra strand in his DNA is the first and only case known in the world.


The parents of unique two-year-old, Alfie Clamp, who has suffered from severe disabilities since birth, were so worried about his debilitating condition that he was put through six weeks of medical tests to figure out what was wrong.

Doctors were stunned upon discovering that his seventh chromosome revealed an extra strand of DNA - a yet-to-be-named rare genetic disorder - that has never been recorded anywhere in the world.

As a result of the extra DNA, Alfie couldn't roll over until he was 18-months-old as his muscles were too weak. Parents Gemma and Richard Clamp, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, also say that their son, who has almost died twice, was also blind until he was three-months-old.

Mr Clamp told the Daily Mail: "The doctors told us there is nothing we could have done to prevent it. I don't think we'll ever know why it happened. I was holding him in my arms and I could see his eyes start to focus on me. It was a massive milestone for us because we didn't know if that would ever happen."

Dr Andrew Jackson, from the Medical Research Council's Genetics Unit in Edinburgh explained to Yahoo! UK News more about Alfie's condition: "Chromosomes are what make us unique. Missing or additional chromosomes are a chance occurrence. Children are quite often born with additional or missing chromosome material, leading them to having learning difficulties and congenital problems."

"Essentially, Alfie has the normal amount of chromosomes (23), but chromosome seven is different because it has additional material on it, which explains his underlying developmental problems."

Unfortunately, Alfie's one-in-seven billion gene anomaly does not give any clues as to whether his condition will improve or worsen as he gets older.

Alfie, who needs to take medicines every day to help his body absorb nutrients, will be operated on this month to fix an intestinal problem.

Both parents had their DNA tested and found that they were not carriers of the faulty gene. Alfie's ten-year-old sister is also perfectly healthy.

According to Unique, a chromosome disorder support group, one in every 200 babies is born with a rare chromosome disorder.

Written by Gaby Leslie


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110412/thl-british-boy-born-with-extra-dna-stra-8b62568.html

they can name the condition 'Alfie's syndrome'