Cri du chat

            Each year in the United States, about 50 to 60 children, both male and female, are born with Cri du chat syndrome. Cri du chat is also known as Cry of the Cat, Cat Cry Syndrome, or 5p minus Syndrome. Cri du chat is recognized at birth by a high pitched cry, low birth weight, a small head, webbing of fingers and toes, small jaw, poor muscle tone, and other medical complications. The disease is cause by a deletion of the top part of the 5th chromosome.
             Most people who have Cri du chat have a hard time talking. Some become able to use short sentences, and others talk with only a few words, or sign language. Nearly all children with Cri du chat have bad muscle tone when they are young. Other symptoms may be feeding difficulties, hyperactivity, scoliosis, walking at a later age, congenital heart defects, and all patients have mental retardation. Few children are born with serious life threatening medical conditions, most individuals with Cri du chat live a normal life expectancy. .
             Self-injurious behaviour is very typical in Cri du Chat syndrome patients. The most frequent behaviors are head banging, hitting the head against other body parts, and self-biting. This most commonly occurs in childhood and appears to happens less and less as the person reaches adulthood. Hyperactivity is also known to be seen a lot in children with the syndrome and sometimes causes chronic sleep problems, insomnia, restlessness. .
             Cri du chat was first discribed by Dr. Jerome Lejeune in 1963. The given to the disease, Cri du chat, is a phrase that means cry of the cat in french. The name was given because of the high-pitched cry during infancy. This unusual sound is caused by bad development of the larynx. In 90% of patients with Cri du chat the deletion is random, not hereditary. In the other 10%, there is a hereditary rearrangment that causes the deletion. If the parents of a child with the disease has another child, there is only a 1% chance that the second one will have Cri du chat unless they have the hereditary rearrangment.