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Muscular dystrophy: Counselling the only way to keep patients strong

KATHMANDU, NOV 05 - At a time when so far non-curable AIDS has haunted people across the globe, another killer disease is surfacing around that is known to very few here in Nepal.
Called muscular dystrophy, this disease is a result of faulty genes in the human body, which leads to death after breaking down of the muscles and weakening of the organs of the body.
Though the disease is of around 20 kinds, neuro-muscular, duchen-muscular and limb-guard muscular are the prominent ones. Among them neuro-muscular dystrophy alone has 500 types.
Duchen-muscular dystrophy is usually found in boys and one among every 335 boys can be suffering from it.
Limb-guard dystrophy is seen in both boys and girls and is usually found among youths.
The number of people suffering from this disease has crossed over 100,000 in the United States and around 35,000 in Britain.
In Nepal too the disease was found in 28 persons of a single family, according to Anil Upadhyaya, member of Muscular Dystrophy Foundation Nepal.
Coordinator of the foundation Jaya Prakash Agrawal said, though it is not known when was this disease detected here in Nepal but it should have been here since ancient times.
Agrawal came to know about the disease some 22 years ago following the death of his six-year-old son.
Likewise, Upadhyaya came to know after his son was infected with the disease.
Following the incident, Upadhyaya has set up the parent project Muscular Dystrophy Organisation which works as a helping institution of the foundation.
No medicine or cure has been discovered so far to cure the disease, so special rehabilitative treatment, research and counselling is the only way so far to keep the patient physically and mentally strong and help live a confident and respectable life. The Muscular Dystrophy Foundation Nepal was officially registered with the same objective, says coordinator Agrawal.
Along with coordinator Agrawal, the ad hoc committee of the foundation represents Dr JP Agrawal, Paban Kumar Agrawal, Om Prakash Bansal, Mahesh Kumar Agrawal, Narpat Sinjain, Pratapmal Jain, Shyam Singhal and Anil Kumar Upadhyaya.Posted on: 2003-11-04 09:10

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