BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW; EDITED BY BERNICE BORN
WiRED International now offers a health learning module on Huntington’s disease.
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited progressive brain disease that causes cells to die in various parts of the brain. HD affects a person’s functional abilities and usually results in cognitive, psychiatric and movement disorders.
People are born with the defective gene, but symptoms usually do not appear until middle age. When a parent has HD, each child has a 50% chance of inheriting the HD gene mutation, which inevitably leads to the disease.
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WiRED’s HD Module describes the disease, its causes, symptoms and signs, diagnosis and testing, treatment and complications.
Although the disease is not fatal per se, people with HD die most often from pneumonia, heart disease, infection and injury from falls. Also, HD victims often feel suicidal because of the cruel deterioration of the mind and body from the condition.
Genetic testing demonstrates whether a person has the HD gene, but no treatment is available to stop or reverse the course of the disease. WiRED encourages you to study its HD Module to get educated about HD.
This module is offered to the global community in memory of Ronald Thomas MacDonald.
You can download the module in this story, and all 400+ of WiRED’s health modules, through WiRED’s Health Module Access Program (HealthMAP) by clicking here. This easy-to-use free program will enable you to create your own customized collection of health learning modules. You can learn more about HealthMAP through WiRED's animation.
Ronald Thomas McDonald
Ronald Thomas MacDonald was an engaging man, father of two, veteran of the U.S. Army, volunteer firefighter and valuable member of his local community. He was stricken with Huntington’s disease early in life and succumbed to it at the age of 50. WiRED’s module is dedicated to his memory.
Quiz Questions from WiRED’s Huntington’s Disease Module
Facts about HD