{"id":18705,"date":"2026-01-15T12:28:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=18705"},"modified":"2026-01-15T15:29:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T09:59:55","slug":"huntingtons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/huntingtons-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Huntington&#8217;s Disease (HD)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Huntington&#8217;s Disease Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Huntington&#8217;s disease (HD) has long been impossible to cure, but new research is finally giving fresh hope.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Huntington&#8217;s Disease<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>rare hereditary disorder in which brain cells, or neurons, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in certain areas of your brain <\/span><b>start to break down.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The destruction of nerve cells <\/span><b>happens in the basal ganglia,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or the<\/span><b> region of your brain that regulates<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> your <\/span><b>body\u2019s moveme<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nts.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also <\/span><b>affects the brain cortex <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(surface of your brain) that r<\/span><b>egulates your thinking, decision-making, and memory.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the neurons degenerate, the disease can <\/span><b>lead to emotional disturbances, loss of intellectual abilities, and uncontrolled movements.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>What causes HD?<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>genetic mutation of the HTT gene<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> causes HD. <\/span><b>If one of your parents has HD, you have a 50% chance of also developing it<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The HTT gene makes a protein called huntingtin. This protein helps your nerve cells (neurons) function.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have HD, your DNA doesn\u2019t have all the information needed to make the huntingtin protein.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result, these proteins grow in an abnormal shape and destroy (instead of help) your neurons.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your neurons die because of this genetic mutation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>How common is HD?<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HD affects an estimated<\/span><b> 3 to 7 out of every 100,000 people<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>most often people of European ancestry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (biological family comes from European descent).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are<\/span><b> two main types<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of HD:<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Adult-onset:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is the <\/span><b>most common<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> type. Symptoms usually start <\/span><b>after age 30.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Early-onset (juvenile Huntington\u2019s disease)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This rare type affects children and teenagers. Symptoms appea<\/span><b>r before age 20.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Symptoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Common symptoms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> include uncontrollable <\/span><b>dance-like movements (chorea) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><b>abnormal body postures,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as well as <\/span><b>problems with behavior, emotion, thinking, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and personality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other symptoms may include <\/span><b>tremor <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(unintentional back-and-forth movement in the person\u2019s muscles) and<\/span><b> unusual eye movements.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The <\/span><b>eye movements can happen early <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These symptoms <\/span><b>get worse over time.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>As HD progresses, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you will <\/span><b>need constant assistance and supervision <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">because of the debilitating nature of the disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>People usually die <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from the disease <\/span><b>within 15 to 20 years of developing symptoms.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Treatment: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is <\/span><b>no treatment that can stop or reverse HD,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but health care providers can offer medications to help with certain symptoms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/scientists-are-finally-closing-in-on-a-treatment-for-huntingtons-disease\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>SA<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Huntington&#8217;s Disease is a rare hereditary disorder in which brain cells, or neurons, in certain areas of your brain start to break down. Read more about Huntington&#8217;s Disease, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":60438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2306],"class_list":{"0":"post-18705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-huntingtons-disease","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}