A two-year-old boy in Britain has reportedly become the world’s first person to be born with an extra strand in his DNA.
Alfie Clamp was born blind and with severe disabilities, which led doctors to carry out various tests. The tests revealed his seventh chromosome had an “extra arm”, which has never been documented anywhere in the world before, the Daily Mail has reported.
Doctors here are baffled at his condition, which is so rare that it does not have a name. Medics also have no idea whether his condition will improve or reduce his life expectancy.
Alfie, from Nuneaton, can now see and he will have an operation later this month to fix an intestinal problem caused by his condition. His parents, Gemma and Richard Clamp, discovered something was wrong with him after they first took him home.
Within days, he was rushed back to the hospital after he stopped breathing and his lips turned blue. Then, when he was six weeks old, doctors discovered he had a rare abnormality in his DNA.
His condition left Alfie unable to see until he was three months old and his muscles were so weak he could not roll over on his own. Alfie still suffers serious digestive problems and needs a cocktail of drugs every day to help his body absorb vital nutrients. He also suffers fits sparked by high temperatures and metabolic problems, that stop him from eating or drinking. —PTI