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Established by Dr. D. Holmes Morton, The Clinic for Special Children is a primary pediatric care and gene research clinic located in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. The facility specializes in genetic problems of the plain sects, such as the Amish and Old Order Mennonites. The clinic treats about 1,200 active patients for over 150 genetic disorders or syndromes such as glutaric aciduria (GA1), maple syrup urine disease (MSUD), Crigler-Najjar syndrome (CNS), and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD).〔https://clinicforspecialchildren.org/services/〕 The children receiving treatment at the clinic are not exclusively Amish or Old Order Mennonites; about 15% of the children come from other backgrounds, including Africa, Asia, and South America. About 75% of the children seen by the Clinic are considered treatable— Many, through techniques developed at the center. Of that 75%, one third are considered highly treatable. CSC staff are co-authors on nearly 100 scientific papers.〔https://clinicforspecialchildren.org/research/〕 == Amish and genetics == The vast majority of the nearly 200,000 American Amish are descended from about two hundred eighteenth-century forebears. Consisting mostly of immigrants who moved from the lower Rhine valley, the German Palatinate and Alsace in the 18th century, the Amish do not marry outside the faith. Although there have been some converts from the outside "English" world, their gene pool is more shallow than that of the average person. Some Amish are afflicted by heritable genetic disorders, including dwarfism (Ellis-van Creveld syndrome), and are also distinguished by the highest incidence of twins in a known human population, various metabolic disorders, and unusual distribution of blood types. Since almost all of the current Amish descend primarily from the aforementioned two hundred forebears, some genetic disorders exist because of inbreeding in more isolated districts. However, Amish do not represent a single closed community, but rather a collection of different demes or genetically closed communities.〔Hostetler, J.A. ''Amish Society 4ed.'', Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, p. 328〕 Some of these disorders are quite rare, or even unique, and they are serious enough that they increase the mortality rate among Amish children. The majority of the Amish accept these as "Gottes Wille" (God's will). Typically, Amish are willing to participate in studies of genetic diseases while rejecting any use of genetic tests prior to marriage to prevent these disorders or to discover genetic disorders in unborn children. There is an increasing consciousness among the Amish of the advantages of exogamy. A common bloodline in one community will often be absent in another, and genetic disorders can be avoided by choosing spouses from unrelated communities. For example, the founding families of the Lancaster County Amish are unrelated to the founders of the Perth County Amish community in Canada. Treating genetic problems is the mission of the Clinic, which has developed effective treatments for such diseases as maple syrup urine disease, a disease which previously was fatal. The clinic has been enthusiastically embraced by most Amish and has contributed to a change in the community's response to departing parents: unlike in the past, parents who feel it necessary to care properly for their children are only rarely placed under the ban. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clinic for Special Children」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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