Monday, September 29, 2014
Genealogy and Genetic Diseases
I have seen and heard some claims recently about family history being used in genetic counseling as far back as the 1600s. To those who are unfamiliar, genetic counseling is the use of a family history to track genetic diseases in a family for early detection and treatment, as well as family planning. I find it interesting that it is possible to track these diseases back as far as a pilgrim ancestor to the United States, for example, and I wonder how easy it is to determine whether or not ancestor x actually had the genetic disorder in question. I also wonder at the accuracy of determining someone's cause of death that far back. Without some real evidence, I shouldn't trust the claims, but it is definitely interesting to think about.
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I agree that it would be difficult to trace the genetic diseases back to the 1600's with accuracy. The doctors then were simply not as good as our doctors now. How do we know if someone died of whooping cough or a serious bronchitis, both cause coughing? I think the only time it could be really trusted is for serious and obvious genetic defects like diabetes.
ReplyDeleteIf you are interested in this kind of stuff, talk to Dr. Clement in the CS department. I think this stuff is really fascinating.
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