Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a degenerative disease that occurs in about 1 in 11,000 live births which means about one baby is born with SMA almost every week in Malaysia. About 1 in 50 people (globally) are carriers of the defective gene that causes SMA, or about 640,000 Malaysians.
SMA is the number one genetic cause of death for infants and affects the motor nerves resulting in muscle wasting and weakness. It is a progressive disease, robbing patients of their ability to sit, walk, run, and later to even breathe and eat.
Read more at Malaysiakini
