Ministry of Health announced that 237,000 newborns have been examined as part of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s initiative for the early detection of genetic disorders in newly-born infants.

Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said the initiative’s first phase, which is still ongoing, aimed at getting newborns screened for 19 genetic diseases in the health ministry’s hospitals. In the second phase, screening will be expanded to all newborns nationwide, he added.

According to Wael Abdel-Razek, head of the health care and nursing sector, the diseases being screened for include congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, folic anemia, cystic fibrosis, hereditary hyperlipidemia, phenylketonuria, tetraplegic deficiency Hydropetrin, organic acidity, elevated blood isovaleric acid, elevated blood propionate/methylmalone, maple urine disease, blood tyrosine elevation-type 1, hypergalactosemia, elevated urine homocysteine, elevated blood arginine, elevated blood citrulline, ornithine deficiency Carbamoyl transporter, fatty acid oxidation and biotinidase deficiency.

The screening is carried out by taking a blood sample from the child’s heel, and analyzing it at the Egyptian Centre for Diseases and Control (ECDC), Abdel-Razek explained.

Source: State Information Service Egypt