Scientific Enigma: British Toddler First Person EVER to Have Extra DNA Strand
- Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:40pm by
Emily Esfahani Smith
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Brave Alfie Clamp, a two-year old boy, is blind. He has intestinal problems, and is beset by disabilities. His muscles are so weak that as an infant, he could barely roll himself over. After he was first born, and his parents took him home from the hospital, he had to be rushed back within days because his lips turned blue and he stopped breathing.
Eventually, doctors started to perform tests on him. And what they found out was astonishing: little Alfie had an extra strand of DNA on his seventh chromosome. This is the first documented case of this condition which, being a first, does not have a name.
According to his mother, “When the doctors told us I was absolutely devastated. As a pregnant mum you spend nine months thinking about what it will be like when your baby takes their first step or claps their hands.”
As Alfie’s mother knows all too well, the little boy’s symptoms can be quite severe:
He still suffers serious digestive problems and needs a cocktail of drugs every day to help his body absorb vital nutrients.
He also suffers fits which sparked by high temperatures and metabolic problems stop him from eating or drinking.
Since he was born, Alfie has been rushed to hospital six times – including twice just last month – when he stopped breathing.
His parents even believed he was dying twice and were stunned when Alfie made a full recovery after spending time in hospital.
Mr and Mrs Clamp, who also have 10-year-old daughter Georgia who is perfectly healthy, had their DNA tested but were not carriers of the faulty gene.
Mr Clamp said: ‘The doctors told us there is nothing we could have done to prevent it. I don‘t think we’ll ever know why it happened.
Mrs. Clamp adds, “Having a boy like Alfie makes you appreciate the little things.”
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Comments (107)
Nigel2
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 11:00pmWonder how long before the British system decides enough resources have been expended on him?
Report Post »fortyfivenorth
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:56pmI’ve been predicting for years that one day a chicken will give birth to a fully developed chick and one or more question (s) will be asked or answered.
Report Post »Jim
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:36pmCome on…don’t insult the little guy!
Report Post »mill
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:31pmSweet innocent child will be in our thoughts.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:17pm“In nature animals will mutate…good gens are past on in the offspring…Bad gens do not survive.
Fact of life.”
Fact of life, humans protect and allow the the bad gene offspring to grow and multiply, thus effectively devolving the species. We will all be cavemen soon. It has all happened before and it will all happen again.
Report Post »mill
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:30pmHOW ABOUT
Report Post »Hidden loon?
ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 1:45amYou should be able to make yourself feel better knowing this. In all likelihood, this condition will be fatal to this poor boy and his family fairly soon.
Report Post »kevtheatheist
Posted on April 13, 2011 at 1:18amNo we are not devolving the species. We are speeding up evolution by introducing more diversity in the gene pool. Those genes that would have disappeared are being mixed with other genes, created new sequences that would never have evolved under natural selection.
Report Post »Someone mentioned the banana. A specimen of seedless banana was discovered in the early 1800s. Undoubtedly, more specimens have been discovered, but the banana that you eat is grown from cuttings of seedless banana trees.
Also, the term science journalist should be an oxymoron. Science correspondents are usually those interns who couldn’t run fast enough.
My thoughts go to that child whose life will probably be cut short. Make every second count!
Jesse
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:08pmWhy is it always the Brits that have weird medical issues?
Report Post »Sam Brown
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:08pmSo will this mean anything in a court since so many people have been convicted on DNA evidence? Geez we found more DNA, oh gosh
Sammy
Report Post »miles from nowhere
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:08pmMust be part alien
Bennie Franklin
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:05pmEugenicist trying to produce the perfect human being again. Back to the drawing board. It is a shame for these parents and the toddler.
Report Post »msswim.com
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:56pmAlien Hybrid?
concealled9mms
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:50pmsure is a cute little fella
Report Post »texasrandy
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:34pmGod bless them folks.
Report Post »Classicmustangmo
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:10amGod bless the little boy and his parents.
Report Post »Our prayers are with you and your family
BrownBear
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:31pmBless his heart. I hope he and his family will be ok.
Report Post »Now this is Art
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:26pmthe meek shall inherit the earth…God bless you Alfie.
Report Post »MyPostingName
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:23pm“extra strand of DNA on his seventh chromosome”……..later in the story its written…..”had their DNA tested but were not carriers of the faulty gene.”
Which is it? And do they know this is the cause of the problem the child suffers?
This is yet another symptom why we the people don‘t understand things cause those whom write the stories don’t ask questions, or they don’t actually write what they were told.
Nice feel good story :), however poorly written. We the people need better journalists, or need to hire those who pay attention to details.
Report Post »LogicalMadman
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:37pmLike Keith Olbermann?
Report Post »MyPostingName
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:13pmHehehe,
God no! on the contrary, his prissy style infuriates me.
Report Post »bikermama
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 11:59pmyeah, I don’t get if this is the first time they have ever seen this mutatio,. why would one assume the parents would be carriers. It is an inherited condition? How would they know that if no-one has ever had it. And had they had been carriers and it was inherited would it not have been seen before now. Sounds to me like an anomoly. Maybe it does have something to do with the food. Only God knows.
Report Post »glennrocks
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:18pmI hope he will be ok. They thought my son was like that, then they realized they mixed his samples with someone elses.
Report Post »AmericanStrega
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:17pmIf neither parent are carriers of the “faulty” gene. Maybe there was another “contributor” the mother isn’t disclosing?
Report Post »btycrkr
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:03pmSounds like Mum might benefit from a bit o’ medical training just in case!
Report Post »Wyatt's Torch
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:59pmThis article is not too articulate…does he have an extra 7th chromosome…is there an additional segment of DNA incorporated in the “normal” 7th chromosome…or is it saying he has a triplo-helix? I don’t even think that is biochemically possible with base pairing and all. Sorry to go off on a nerd tangent, I‘m just sayin’….
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:14pmI found the article too flimsy, but it seems the #7 chromosome has 3 instead of the 2 strands .
Report Post »My guess is that a tiny part of just one strand is unpaired and unattached , which might get classified as a 3rd strand . It might not be a 3rd strand per se but an incomplete unpaired 2nd strand ‘floating’ free
mjrossi
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:22pmThere must have been a duplication in a region of Chromosome 7. Saying there is an extra DNA strand is just an incorrect way of stating the condition. The article doesn’t state if it was a duplication of Chromosome 7, or a rearrangement from another chromosome. This is unique because they usually don’t seem rearrangments of Chromosome 7. For instance, Down’s Syndrome is caused by having a third Chromosome 21. That abnormality is common, and is obviously not fatal. Unfortunately, it sounds like this one will be.
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:44pmWyatt, Cheez and Mj
I for one am impressed with your knowledge of this. I know some but I may be out of my league. But unfortunatly it does sound like this will be a fatal condition. I am praying for the child and the parents. So sad.
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:10pm@ mjrossi
Report Post »Hope they release the idiogram, for academic purposes ofcourse
lel2007
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 11:28pmYou’re just sayin….. What?
Report Post »aLinedog
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 10:50amROFLMAO @ Lel : too funny.
Report Post »My vote is for the unattached, floating free. Most laymen would see that as a ‘third strand’. A triple stranded helix wouldn’t.. well, it seems to me that it would be one convoluted piece of material and, as previously stated shouldn’t work with the base pairings. Of course, I am no scientist and am mostly self-educated.
-line
Believe half of what you see and nothing a politician tells you.
notofdasleeple
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:47pmChem-Trail-Fail
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:47pmThis is the first documented case of this condition which, being a first, does not have a name.
Report Post »————
Trisepta helix ?
TrueGrit
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:49amDemocrat
Wolverine
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:47pmGod bless the little guy.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:50pmI agree .. and his family .. Bless them.
Report Post »jpsays
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:59pmBlessings come in many forms. This little guy is a fighter.
Report Post »EnoughBS
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:47pmInteresting.. how do you calculate number of DNA strands? Aren’t there millions for each person?
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:00pmNO humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46 chromosomes. 50years ago what this child has would probably been fatal. ultimately this will be fatal.
Report Post »mjrossi
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:17pmIt is very misleading the way the article is written. The number of DNA strands have not changed. The amount of genetic material is increased; this is what they are calling the extra strand. This extra genetic material is not regulated properly, and is thus causing all the problems.
Report Post »oceanman
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:18pmIts a translocation. Depending on what the translocation is and whats missing or overexpressed is weather the child will make it or not.
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:46pmSo having a small addition to one’s DNA could be a bad thing.
Hmmmmm. Makes you wonder how species ever evolved in the first place.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:50pmMaybe our next evolution will be to start laying eggs, grow a duck bill, and become venomous. Or a third eye.
Report Post »tomathy
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:32pmsimple really, mutations like this happen. anything that isn’t viable dies, everything else survives and gets passed on
Report Post »LogicalMadman
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:35pmHis eyes OPEN!
Report Post »tarbush
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:45pm@Darmok
Nancy Pelosi?
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:00pmIt seems to me, Tomathy, that a simple calculation of the odds of mutation happening in the first place multiplied by the the odds of such a mutation being benign or even possitive make the odds of any species surviving over the very long term extremely slim. The number of species that have lived and gone extinct should outnumber the ones that survive on the order of millions to one.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:26pmBefore he died, even Darwin finally realized evolution was a bunch of BS.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:46pmMakes you wonder about genetically engineered foods that have DNA splicing catalysts embedded into their strains.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:48pmBut he will still have bad teeth.
TXPilot
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:55pmHe may have alot of difficulties in his life, but that is one cute kid!
Report Post »stifroc
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:56pmSoooo… by the looks of this, having an extra strand of DNA does NOT make you more advanced than the rest of the human populace. Back to the drawing board.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 8:59pmIn nature animals will mutate…good gens are past on in the offspring…Bad gens do not survive.
Report Post »Fact of life.
crackerone
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:02pmLook’s like a young Gordon Brown.
Report Post »wildjoker5
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:11pmGuess this is the evolution we keep hearing about?
And this has absolutely nothing to do with genetic engineered food, that is just ridiculous.
Report Post »jhaydeng
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:36pmGotta be tough!
Report Post »crackerone
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 9:44pmI’ve got it! Gordon Brown’s love baby!
Report Post »Physicist_In_Training
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:04pmPoor kid. Poor family. Sorry to be a party-pooper, but I think evolution jokes in this case are in bad taste, even if the article leaves itself wide open for them.
Report Post »darkknight91
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:37pmCute? Hardly.
Report Post »Anti_Spock
Posted on April 11, 2011 at 10:57pmMakes you wonder why anyone believes God does this kind of stuff. (He doesn’t… neither does the little red man with a pitchfork)
It’s called human genetics. The miracle here is here is the only known survivor with this condition. meaning all others died before birth. Happens alot actually.
Report Post »GLENNS_FUTURE_BABY_MOMMA
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 12:15amI don’t understand some of you. This child‘s parents didn’t ask for an extra strand of DNA for their little boy. I know that this a blog where those of us who love Glenn come to chat about goings on, but I thought most everyone here shared the same morals and sensibilities.
If our Lord Jesus Christ came back this very moment, would you make jokes about this poor little soul … in front or our Savior? Would you?! All of you making light of of this should be ashamed!
Ashamed!
Report Post »hillbillyinny
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:59am@Glenn’s_Future_Baby_Momma:
You say in part: “I know that this a blog where those of us who love Glenn come to chat about goings on, but I thought most everyone here shared the same morals and sensibilities.”
Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but in light of your comment and your following comment, what is the meaning of your moniker: Glenn’s_Future_Baby_Momma? I may be old fashioned, but. . .
Report Post »bilbo9207
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 4:01ambanjarmon if that was true there would be no Multiple Hereditary Exostoses or any other Hereditary disease. check out http://www.mhecoalition.org/ for real facts on what survives. truth is bad genes can survive with a 50/50 chance. Another case where science fact doesn’t meet science belief.
Report Post »Libertyluvnmomma
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:19amWas momma surprised baby made a full recovery because he had to wait for healthcare….or do anomaly’s put you ahead of other babies who might have been waiting a long time.
Report Post »Joe_Anchorage_True_American
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 9:48amGod bless this small child. May the Lord see that his and his parents burdens are as light as possible.
Report Post »dkoby
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 10:29amWell stop eating bananas then, because they are genetically engineered. Bananas are supposed to have pits in them. they were genetically engineered to NOT have pits in them. If you stopped eating all genetically engineered food, you would be living out of your own backyard for your food.
Report Post »RoguePatriot
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 11:11amIt is quite appalling to see the jokes made at the expense of this child. It s also quite funny to see that this child’s condition means that there is not God or Devil. I know who my Lord and Savior is and will continue to have Faith in Him. For those that decided to crack jokes at the expense of this child, pull the log out of your eye!
Report Post »wisdom of aged
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:02pmNail on Head.
Report Post »iggnyte
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 2:18pm@banjarmon — show me evidence of one mutation that has EVER proven benefical to a species. Evolution has never been proven — it’s a THEORY!
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:38pm@Iggnyte – very rarely a mutation can be beneficial in the right circumstances; witness the wingless beetles on the Galapagos, where the loss of wings is theorized to have prevented them from being blown out to sea. However, in a different environment the mutant beetles would not have thrived.
I would not dignify evolution by calling it a theory. It is at best a hypothesis, and not even a very good one given what we know today about DNA and RNA.
Report Post »GLENNS_FUTURE_BABY_MOMMA
Posted on April 12, 2011 at 9:33pmHillbilly, I don’t like what U r insinuating. I am a huge Glenn Beck fan, but i am a Christian woman first. the “baby mamma” moniker (as U put it) is a reference to the 2008 film starting Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Greg Kinnear. (Amy Poehler is one of my heroes. I am an actress.) it is a joke.
Do you know what a joke is? So many “monikers” here are jokes and plays on words.
Get over yourself, Hillbilly! If you are not a fan of Glenn’s, and a true follower of the Risen Jesus, you have no place here.
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