Cautionary tale on inter-marrying
SUKKUR:
A team of experts from the Kahuta Laboratory in Islamabad has arrived to investigate a mysterious disease that has plagued the residents of Mahmood Panhu village in Shikarpur district.
Several of the residents in the village share a disconcerting physical characteristic: they have just one or two fingers on their hands and toes.
The strange problem was brought into the limelight by the Express News. The media report helped to bring the issue to the medical experts’ attention. And so, a three-member team was formed under Dr Abdul Majid from Islamabad’s research laboratory Kahuta.
The other members on the team are Dr Hafiza and Dr Muhammad Ajmal.
The doctors met with their subjects in the village and then took blood samples from all of the affected persons, including women and children.
The villagers told the doctors that other experts have visited them before but all this research and inquiry has not helped the afflicted in any way.
Dr Abdul Majid told Express that the major reason for these deformities is inter-family marriages. “If these people do not stop marrying within their families then this handicap will continue into the next generations as well,” he warned.
According to Dr Hafiza they had decided to visit when the found out about these people. Government departments have to take initiative to help these people, she said, adding that right now they were not even ready to get treatment.
The team plans to carry out several tests on the blood samples that they have collected. “We hope to reach a conclusion for sure,” Dr Muhammad Ajmal said.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 5th, 2010.
A team of experts from the Kahuta Laboratory in Islamabad has arrived to investigate a mysterious disease that has plagued the residents of Mahmood Panhu village in Shikarpur district.
Several of the residents in the village share a disconcerting physical characteristic: they have just one or two fingers on their hands and toes.
The strange problem was brought into the limelight by the Express News. The media report helped to bring the issue to the medical experts’ attention. And so, a three-member team was formed under Dr Abdul Majid from Islamabad’s research laboratory Kahuta.
The other members on the team are Dr Hafiza and Dr Muhammad Ajmal.
The doctors met with their subjects in the village and then took blood samples from all of the affected persons, including women and children.
The villagers told the doctors that other experts have visited them before but all this research and inquiry has not helped the afflicted in any way.
Dr Abdul Majid told Express that the major reason for these deformities is inter-family marriages. “If these people do not stop marrying within their families then this handicap will continue into the next generations as well,” he warned.
According to Dr Hafiza they had decided to visit when the found out about these people. Government departments have to take initiative to help these people, she said, adding that right now they were not even ready to get treatment.
The team plans to carry out several tests on the blood samples that they have collected. “We hope to reach a conclusion for sure,” Dr Muhammad Ajmal said.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 5th, 2010.