Maple Syrup Urine Disease

| December 12, 2013 | 2 Comments

By:Lauren Tong

Maple Syrup Urine Disease is a genetically inherited illness where the body cannot properly process protein. It infects 1 out of every 185,000 infants, although, it is very deadly.

The disease gets it’s name “Maple Syrup Urine” from the unique, sweet-smelling pee, hence the words maple syrup and urine that makes up the name. Maple Syrup Urine Disease(M.S.U.D.), is characterized with vomiting, lack of eating, and a lack of energy. M.S.U.D.  can lead to seizures, coma, or(worst of all) death. The disease is usually noticed during infancy and the patient is expected to live only for a few months after diagnosis. Some forms of Maple Syrup Urine Disease can be treated by putting the patient on a very strict diet. “Who ever heard of a Maple Syrup Urine Disease?” Stephanie replies in response to my statement, “I’m doing an article on Maple Syrup Urine Disease!”  This scared me because  babies are dying every year of this and people should really be informed about it (even though I didn’t have a clue about it either until the other day, myself to blame).

A ten day old boy, contracted the disease. His pee had an abnormal scent and the condition stabilized, but he passed away at two months old. This is very sad because since the doctors on his case barely had a clue about this rare disease, he ended up dying at a young age. “I just can’t believe it, children are dying and nobody knows why,” states Ian,” I wish I could go back in time to diagnose all of these poor, poor kids.” So inform people about this very “unknown” disease so we can all learn to fight this horrible, horrible illness.

Category: Lifestyle, Science News, World

About the Author ()

Comments (2)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Jenna says:

    So sad that doctors don’t know about this. But you did an awesome article!!

  2. #Make_Pasta_Not_War says:

    well that’s the last time i over-syrup my pancakes!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

banner ad banner ad