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Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome (progeria) will be familiar to people old enough to remember the television program That’s Incredible from the ’80s in which a young sufferer of the disorder appeared. The disease causes premature aging – so rapidly that a young child can look like a very old man (or, if I may be so callous as to point out the obvious, an alien – as in the photograph above). The disease is especially interesting for scientists as it may lend clues to the natural aging process in man. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation, and does not pass from parent to child. There is no known cure, and most children with the disease do not live beyond the age of thirteen – usually dying of stroke or heart attack (diseases usually associated with old age).