Early detection of Diseases and birth abnormalities...
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,695
this came up in another thread about moral philosophy...
if it were technologically possible, would it be possible to detect any types of birth defects/diseases at the moment that a sperm and egg connected? or do these things have a probability chance of occuring given a specific egg/sperm combination? so a certain combination would lead to a baby developing anencephaly some times, but not other times?
or are defects/diseases totally deterministic given a specific egg/sperm combo?
hopefully this question makes sense...
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 18,841
I think at least some birth defects would be detectable at the moment of conception. Once a sperm takes and a embryo starts to divide, its genetic make-up is set (except in extreme cases like mosaicism). Something like Down's syndrome should be detectable by that point, since Down's syndrome is totally genetic.
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,029
