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Down Syndrome Cases in Ireland Investigated
Note: At least one individual has ruled out radiation exposure as
the root cause (2nd paragraph) .. a first!
Tuesday November 14 1:25 PM ET
Down Syndrome Cases in Ireland Investigated
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An unexplained cluster of six Down
syndrome children born to women who attended a small girls' school in
Dundalk, Ireland probably represents a chance occurrence, researchers
report.
``Previous suggestions that an influenza epidemic or contamination
from the Windscale nuclear reactor fire might be implicated, both of
which occurred in October 1957, can be effectively dismissed,''
according to Dr. Geoffrey Dean from the Health Research Board in
Dublin, and associates.
The investigators examined the rate of Down syndrome births in
Dundalk and surrounding areas in an effort to determine the possible
cause of the unusually high rate of Down syndrome in children born to
women who had attended St. Louis' Secondary School for Girls between
1956 and 1957.
The overall Down syndrome birth rate among these women was nine times
higher than expected, the researchers note, but the Down syndrome
birth rate in the surrounding area was not statistically higher than
expected.
The only well-established risk factor for Down syndrome is increasing
age of the mother, the report indicates, a factor that was not
present in these mothers. Five of the births were to mothers under 30
years of age.
Any exposure that might be responsible for this unusual cluster of
Down syndrome cases would have to be highly localized in order to
affect only girls attending this particular school, the authors point
out. And no such exposure has been identified, despite a thorough
search.
``We have been unable to find a plausible common cause of the cases
constituting this cluster, and details of the individual cases
suggest that there may not be one,'' Dean and colleagues conclude.
``We are unable to rule out chance as being wholly or principally
responsible, and this may well be the most reasonable explanation.''
SOURCE: Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2000;57:793-804.
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