hereditary diseases?
Inbreeding is very common in Arab countries, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In recent years, a system of pre-marital screening has been introduced for some common genetic diseases. But there are many things that many people do not understand about the meaning of genetic testing before marriage, as many believe that conducting a blood test and the emergence of negative results will not lead to the occurrence of genetic diseases and thus surprise occurs after the birth of an abnormal child or the emergence of a specific genetic disease. What is done to obtain approval to end the marriage procedures is only examining some types of hereditary anemia (i.e. sickle cell anemia and Mediterranean anemia), which are inherited only in some regions of the Kingdom such as the southern and eastern regions and some places of the central region. The pre-marital examination is not only intended to conduct blood analysis for hereditary anemia, but genetic counseling is more important than blood testing, for example there are many common genetic diseases that do not have a pre-marital examination such as congenital heart defects, urinary tract defects, spinal defects and brain and defects of bone deficiency Or dwarfism, as there are many genetic diseases that may not be apparent at an early age, i.e. in the age of marriage, which are related to the genetic factor such as diabetes, arterial hypertension, epilepsy and cancerous tumors such as breast cancer and these diseases may appear after the woman''s age and are as It is known spread in our country. The purpose of pre-marital screening is genetic counseling to research the family''s sick history and try to find out if there are genetic diseases such as the presence of fetal deaths due to birth defects or repeated miscarriages or the presence of newborns with some disabilities or defects in hearing, vision or speech, or a delay in Educational attainment. The reader of this article may think that what is meant is to prevent marriage to relatives categorically because most of the problems mentioned are present in the vast majority of families, but our message is awareness and counseling and the need to investigate useful and integrated genetic counseling with the will of God Almighty, and not to believe that what is being done in terms of examinations before marriage They are sufficient to avoid most birth defects, despite the discriminatory role of these tests. It should also be noted that not all diseases and disabilities are hereditary, for example the Mongolian child is not hereditary, but it occurs in some pregnant women at an advanced age. In addition, there are some hereditary diseases that can be avoided by the will of God Almighty, such as spina bifida or cleft nerve, by using folic acid before pregnancy, and many birth defects that occur as a result of gestational diabetes can be avoided, God willing, by controlling sugar levels for pregnant women. We repeat the role of health education in spreading awareness to avoid many health problems, and prevention is better than treatment.
