Dr. Saima Siddiqi works at the Institute of Biomedical and Genetic Engineering (IBGE).

The institute works in collaboration with researchers from Singapore and Europe. Dr. Saima came across a family taking shelter at Edhi Center. Five out of nine children of this family were suffering from a rare disease. Soon, she was able to link this back to the practice of inter-family marriages.

The family took their children to several doctors but no one could tell what was wrong with them.

People started believing that this was either a result of supernatural powers or black magic. Soon, the family became the focal point of some extensive research to track down the cause of the disease. The rare condition causes deafness at a very early age, almost when the baby is six months old.

Later, when the child reaches the age of eleven, that is when complete paralysis of the body happens.

Dr. Saima worked with them for eight long years and found out that the cause of the disease, which is now called Siddiqi Syndrome, was interfamily marriage.

Interfamily or consanguineous marriages are very common in Pakistan. Such marriages are actually preferred in our culture. They are thought to be more stable than marriages outside the family.

There are various reasons why people hold such beliefs. A few of these beliefs are:

• These marriages bring the family closer and strengthen their bond.
• They are thought to make marriage and dowry arrangements simpler.
• It is also a way of keeping the wealth and property within the family.

Pakistan, at this point in time, is the world leader in interfamily marriages.

70% of the marriages that take place in the country are among blood relatives. We are followed by Saudi Arabia with 50% consanguinity. Iran and Afghanistan are at 30 to 40% and Iraq is at 33%.

The offspring of such marriages have a higher chance of having genetic disorders. Some of the common disorders include:

• Hypoplastic heart: a condition where one side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.
• The genesis of the kidney: a condition where one or both kidneys fail to develop.

Several researches have also found a positive link between interfamily marriages and a wide range of disorders which affect us in adulthood.

These include hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, uni/bi polar depression, asthma, gout, peptic ulcer and osteoporosis.

Dr Saima is now working with over 200 Pakistani families to see how common this disease is.

Due to the high percentage of interfamily marriages, the trend of this disease is expected to be quite high. Dr. Saima also pointed out a few ways through which the disease can be prevented.

According to her, the following steps can be taken:

• It is important to educate families about it.
• Pre-marital blood screening of individuals is important to determine if there’s a chance genetic disorders in the offspring.
• Public hospitals need to start providing free pre-marital blood screenings.
• The government needs to spend on research for rare diseases rather than common diseases.
• Genetic counselling should be set up in public sector hospitals to educate people.
• Lastly, interfamily marriages also need to be discouraged as it leads to the pool of defective generations.

Help Dr. Siddiqi in her fight against the diseases caused by inter-family marriages. You can do your part by spreading every nugget of information about the same.

For more content like this, follow Wajood on Facebook.