Last update - 00:00 18/12/2006
Government to cancel Tay-Sachs screening tests for Tel Aviv area
By Relly Sa'ar, Haaretz Correspondent
The Health Ministry's Community Genetics Department has notified the Tel Aviv municipality that at the end of next month, the ministry will stop its early-detection screening program for Tay-Sachs disease.
Tay-Sachs is a fatal genetic disease whose incidence is particularly high among Jews of Askhenazi descent. It causes progressive destruction of the nervous system, beginning in infancy.
There is no cure for the disease, and children with Tay-Sachs usually die by age four from recurring infection.
The test is designed to detect if the parents are carriers of the mutated Tay-Sachs gene. Both parents must carry the mutated gene in order to have an affected child. If both parents are carriers, there is a 25 percent chance with each pregnancy that the child will be affected with Tay-Sachs.
A simple blood test will determine if a person is a carrier. According to the ministry protocol, pregnant women are tested for the gene. If they test negative, they can be certain that the child will not be affected. If they test positive, their partners are summoned for a test.
"Stopping the tests in Tel Aviv, and forcing residents to obtain the service in Beilinson or Sheba Medical Centers [in Petah Tikva and Tel Hashomer, outside Tel Aviv] is liable to lessen compliance" with instructions to be tested for the gene," said Tel Aviv Councilwoman Haviva Avi-Guy of the Pensioners' party.
The Health Ministry said in response that it is seeking alternative solutions for the service slated to be cancelled.