Show Is If f f 1 I. I t Is My Baby aaby All Right Thousands of Infants Are Born E Each ch Year With Major Defects Says Health Authority By fly THOMAS M. M RIVERS MD M.D. Medical Vice President nt The Th Th National Foundation The first question ever every woman woman wo wo- man asks immediately after the Iho birth of n achild child is My baby Is my baby alright In tn most instances the answer answer ans- ans is yes Then the mother relaxes with a sense of full full- fill men t and joy But nut sometimes a baby Isborn Isborn is isborn born with birth defects known technically In tn the medical profession profession pro pro- as congenital Then expectancy turns to anxiety and grief the most heartbreaking grief a woman woman woman wo wo- wo- wo man can know If It the defects detects are serious the entire family may face a lifetime of mental physical and economic strain On the positive side there Is this to say says Significant birth defects detects occur in only a relatively relative relative- ly small portion of the intents infants who come into the world every year Some defects can be repaired repaired repaired re re- re- re paired by surgery Others can be so Improved by the modern science of rehabilitation that by the time the child reaches maturity he may be capable of leading a normal life and doIng doIng do do- Ing useful w work rk Above all many inborn defects can be prevented by knowledge and simple precautions Beyond this lies ever greater hope for the future Until recently recently re re- re birth defects have been neglected But now medical science sel enc ence is tackling this problem that lies so close cloe to the hopes and fears of every prospective parent An organized concentrated concen concen- concentrated attack at this st stage ge can bring about vast improvement in the care rehabilitation and eventual prevention of malformed malformed mal mal- formed children Hopeful Promise The news that the National Foundation originally the National National Na Na- Foundation for Infantile Paralysis has taken up the challenge of birth defects is a hopeful promise for the future The National Foundation is the voluntary health organization that educated the American public in the care and prevention prevention tion of ot polio pallo With March of Dimes funds its grantees planned planned planned plan plan- ned set up and carried out the the- prodigious research program that produced the Salk vaccine and a whole series of history history- making medical discoveries It ItIs Itis Itis is not unreasonable therefore to expect from its sponsored scientists equally Important advances advances advances ad ad- vances concerning the causes and treatment of congenital malformations Major Un Unmet met Problem Birth defects are probably the major unmet childhood medical problem They are ex ex- seeded only by accidents as a cause caule bf bt crippling and disability In children They cause the death of 01 infants or one one- fourth of ot all U. U S. S Infants Infanta who wh are stillborn or dl dip die annually within the first month of life Children born In this country country coun coun- try each year with significant birth defects detects number about a quarter of ot a million Approximately Approximately Approximately half halt of these are doomed doomed doom- doom ed cd to serious crippling or prolonged prolonged prolonged pro pro- longed disability Combinations of 01 defects h in one child are not unusual There are over different kinds of b birth rth defects detects Some are minor like poor eyesight flat feet or color blindness These present no major hazard to the normal functioning of the child More serious defects widely known and recognized Include harelip and cleft palate clubfoot missing extremities congenital cataracts and brain Injuries Rarer but just as serious are spina a deformity of the spinal vertebrae locele a deformity similar to spina except that the skull instead of the spine is open and hydrocephalus an accumulation of excess fluids in the cavities of the brain commonly known as water on the brain Main Categories Listed Birth defects are grouped Inthe in inthe inthe the following main categories Malformations of ot the skeletal structure with an estimated afflicted infants annual annual- ly Iy surviving the first four weeks of life ife disorders of the central nervous system infants annually skin anomalies 30 congenital heart and vascular vascular vascular vas vas- cular disease tal malformations eye disorders gastro gastrointestinal gastro inal malformations other anomalies But these figures do not tell ten the whole story The import Import- birth defects as a medIcal medical medical med med- ical problem is gr growing According A Accord Accord- According cord cord- ing to the Vital Vita Statistics of the United States the number of children who died as a are result result re re- sult suIt of ot congenital malformations malformations malformations rose from in 1939 to in 1953 At the same time the number of ot malformed children who survived Into adolescence adolescence adolescence ad ad- and maturity and maturity CO continues continues contin contin- ues to grow One reason is that techniques of diagnosis have so improved that some defects defects de de- not obvious at birth can be found and treated earlier Another is that modern modem surgery surgery surgery sur sur- gery keeps alive many malformed ed children who would once have been doomed to early death Furthermore deaths from normal child diseases have been radically reduced by au- au and other modern modem medical med ical leal measures A Big Challenge There is another way In which the problem of birth defects offers a R challenge of ot the first magnitude This lies lles in the realm of popular attitudes and public education Largely as a result of hearsay and Ignorance many of the congenially congenItally Itally malformed are socially stigmatized This unjust stigma stigma stig ma mn often attaches Itself to the parents parents' as well as to the child chUd It Is important too to co cor correct rest reet parental attitudes In Jt rt- rt laIon laon to o o children If the sense of stigma were removed removed re re- moved d. d parents would be more willing to take their children to appropriate medical facilities facilities ties for Cor diagnosis and aM treat ment As with most health disorders ills dis orders the earlier a birth defect de de- defect is detected the more successfully successfully suc sue it may respond to correction correction correction cor cor- or rehabilitation Break Down Taboos All this calls for tor a n program of public education not unlike that which broke down popular taboos preliminary p to controlling controlling controlling control control- ling such major health problems problems lems as venereal disease cancer cancer can can- tuberculosis and polio Once Ones these attitudes have been modified we can establish a climate of thought though favorable to the support and understanding understand understand- ing of ot a R concerted advance on the challenge of birth defects Besides birth defects other areas of March of ot Dimes Dunes activity activity act act- are polio arthritis and virus diseases |