Researchers working on blood test to detect Down syndrome
October 7, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
Down syndrome, or Down’s syndrome, has been front and center since Governor Sarah Palin’s nomination for vice-president running mate in the United States. Her son, Trig Palin, was born with Down syndrome. I know a good bit about Down syndrome because my brother, Erich, has it. He’s actually a “foster,” as he came to live with my family when he was 3 months old, having been abandoned by his birth parents. He is now 31 years old and still as healthy as can be. And he’s a real sweetie too. 
Most women who become pregnant over the age of 35 years are advised to undergo testing to see if their baby has the extra chromosome that causes the syndrome. Undergoing an amniocentesis, a test that removes amniotic fluid for analysis (What is amniocentesis?) does have a small risk of miscarriage, so the test itself can be a tough decision.
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Tags: pregnancy blog, amniocentesis, DNA test, test for down syndrome, downs syndrome, down syndrome, test for downs syndrome, sarah palin, governor sarah palin, trig palin, sarah palin
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Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] Marijke talked about this too, and with a personal story of her brother who has Downs, at the channel’s pregnancy/infant blog Womb [...]