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- NF is
not a rare disorder, it is the most common neurological disorder caused by
a single gene.
- NF has
been classified into two distinct types, NF1 and NF2. They are caused by different
genes, located on different chromosomes.
- NF1 is
the more common form of NF, affecting approximately 1:4,000 births throughout
the world.
- NF2 affects
about 1:40,000 people worldwide.
- Both
NF1 and NF2 are genetically-determined disorders which affect more than 100,000
Americans; this makes NF more prevalent than Cystic Fibrosis, hereditary Muscular
Dystrophy, Huntington's Disease and Tay Sachs combined.
- Both
forms of NF are autosomal dominant genetic disorders which can be inherited
from a parent who has NF or may be the result of a new or "spontaneous mutation"
(change) in the sperm or egg cell.
- Each
child of an affected parent has a 50% chance of inheriting the gene and developing
NF. The type of NF (i.e., NF1 or NF2) inherited by the child is always the
same as that of the affected parent, although the severity of the manifestations
may differ from person to person within a family.
- NF is
worldwide in distribution and affects both sexes equally and has no particular
racial, geographic or ethnic distribution. Therefore, NF can appear in any
family.
- Although
most cases of NF1 are mild to moderate, NF can lead to disfigurement; blindness;
deafness; skeletal abnormalities; dermal, brain and spinal tumors; loss of
limbs; malignancies; and learning disabilities.
- NF also
has a connection to developmental problems, especially learning disabilities,
which are five times more common in the NF population than in the general
population.
- Accordingly,
NF research may benefit an additional 100 million Americans (i.e. 65 million
with cancer and 35 million with learning disabilities).
- NF is
not the "Elephant Man's Disease," although it was at one time believed to
be. Scientists now believe that John Merrick, the so-called "Elephant Man,"
had Proteus Syndrome, an entirely different disorder.
- NF research
began eighteen years ago by the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation, has
been enormously productive ever since.
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