No one knew why the kids in 2 Amish families were dying suddenly. Now researchers have some answers
About 15 years ago, an Amish family in the eastern US was hit by an unexplainable tragedy -- one of their children died suddenly while playing and running around. Just a few months later, the same fate befell another one of their children. Six years later, they lost another child. Two years after that, another one.
The autopsies didn't offer any clues. The children's hearts appeared normal. The family had what they referred to as "the curse of sudden death." And medical examiners couldn't figure out why.
After the deaths of the first two children, a medical examiner who conducted the autopsies got in touch with researchers at the Mayo Clinic Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory in 2004. Researchers at the lab had pioneered the concept of molecular autopsy, using genetic testing to understand the cause of death in sudden unexplained cases, and the examiner wanted to see if they could shed light on the mystery affecting the Amish community.
Then last week, researchers at the Mayo Clinic lab reported a breakthrough, published in JAMA Cardiology. With the help of new technology that wasn't around when they first started looking into the case, the team learned that these Amish children had all inherited the same genetic mutation from both of their parents. And out of the 23 young people who had inherited the mutation, 18 had died sudden deaths.
[link:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/no-one-knew-why-the-kids-in-2-amish-families-were-dying-suddenly-now-researchers-have-some-answers/ar-BBZ17m4?li=BBnb7Kz|]
Hopefully now they will accept the science so their community can have the genetic information to prevent further sorrow and pain.
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