We will celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Day on March 21st with our annual ‘Odd Socks Day’. In the lead up to Down Syndrome Awareness Day we would like to share some facts with you to help to build awareness and understanding of Down Syndrome.
Fact #1
It is estimated that there are approximately seven thousand people in Ireland with Down syndrome. One baby with Down syndrome is born out of every 546 births.
In every cell in the human body there is a nucleus, where genetic material is stored in genes. Genes carry the codes responsible for all of our inherited traits and are grouped along rod-like structures called chromosomes. In traditionally-developed individuals, each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, half of which are inherited from each parent. Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21.
There are 3 types of Down Syndrome: Trisomy 21 the most common 95% cases, Translocation 4% cases and Mosaicism 1% cases.
Down syndrome can affect a child’s learning ability, their physical development and can come with a range of health and developmental challenges.
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