ISSN: 2167-7948
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Kayode A Adeniran
Consultant Paediatrician & Paediatric Endocrinologist, Federal Medical Centre Asaba,
Delta State
Nigeria
Review Article
Review Article on Congenital Hypothyroidism and Newborn Screening Program in Africa; the Present Situation and the Way Forward
Author(s): Kayode A Adeniran and Mary Limbe
Kayode A Adeniran and Mary Limbe
Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is a condition that affects infants from birth (congenital) and results from partial or complete loss of thyroid function (hypothyroidism). CH has existed since antiquity, as exemplified by goitrous dwarfs in 400 BC in South America, writing about goiter from ancient Rome in the first century and descriptions of mental retardation and goitrous hypothyroidism in a lecture and subsequent publication by Paracelsus in the sixteenth century [1]. Non goitrous sporadic CH was not described until the beginning of the industrial revolution by Thomas Curling in 1850. By the end of the nineteenth century, thyroid extract were observed to effectively treat patients with CH, however not until the 1970s was it possible for mental retardation caused by CH to be virtually eradicated by early treatment as a result of early diagnosis through newborn screening [2]. During .. View More»
DOI:
10.4172/2167-7948.1000102