Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis

Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis Congenital Insensitivity to Pain is a very amazing disease. I chose to report on the specific section of it dealing with Anhidrosis because this also leaves the infected individual with the inability to sweat. This causes problems such as fevers and overheating from over exertion or external heat which in turn can cause brain damage. Many people affected by this disease die before the age of twenty-five from infections left untreated, metal retardation, overheating, and freezing. This leaves the field of exploration in finding a cure very narrow because people treated die too early to show direct connections to any of their treatment. Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA) is an extremely rare hereditary disease with many side affects. This life threatening disease is so scarce that, according to reports, there are only seventeen to thirty-five occurrences in the United States, with approximately one hundred cases reported around the world. CIPA belongs to a family of Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathies (HSAN). It is also known as HSAN IV. The disease affects individual’s autonomic, sensory, and motor functions. CIPA arises through a mutation in the TrkA gene which directly affects the nerve growth factor (NGF). NGF allows humans to feel the sensations of intense heat, freezing cold, and/or pain. Without such feelings, people with CIPA usually appear fearless or insane. They may play in the snow in a t-shirt, drink boiling tea, or walk on broken feet without the slightest notion that something is amiss. Their bodily temperature can be raised to the point of heatstroke by just moving around or playing a game, so the persons affected by this terrible disease must stay out of direct sunlight and keep their temperature down between sixty-eight and seventy-two degrees. Their lack of sweating gives them a thick, rough, and almost leathery skin that makes them more prone to infections

References: Help Roberto. 2007. Help Roberto. 28 February 2008 <http://www.seedmotion.com/roberto/cipa.php> CONGENITAL INSENSITIVITY TO PAIN WITH ANHIDROSIS. Unknown. Courtney Wood. 28 February 2008 <http://helium.vancouver.wsu.edu/~woodc/CIPA.html> Handbook of Congenital Insensitivity to Pain With Anhidrosis. August 2002. The Association of CIPA, "Tomorrow", National Center for Child Heath and Development. 28 February 2008 <http://www.tomorrow.or.jp/eng_hande.html>