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Sandra Prytula
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OAKLAND AUDIOLOGY
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950 N. Cass Lake Road, Suite #101, Waterford

(810) 683-1700

•

Dangerous Blood Bonds

Computer voyager seeks to warn relatives
about potentially deadly trait.

JIM PFEIFER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEW AND RUTH UTTMANN SECTION EDITOR

his is a story about an blood tests showed he was a car-
Ashkenazic Jew in rier.
The results led Mr. Diamond
Montreal, Stanley Dia-
mond, who learned he to conclude that Ashkenazic Jews
has a "genetic" cousin in West with symptoms of anemia — a
Bloomfield, Mich. Her name is low white blood cell count, iron
deficiency, etc. — ought to un-
Mila Meltser.
Jewish geography makes for a dergo a screening for the tha-
typical story, but this isn't one of lassemia gene. If the tests come
back positive, they should try to
those stories.
In 1977, Mr. Diamond discov- track down family members who
ered through a simple blood
test that he was a carrier of
the genetic trait beta-tha-
lassemia (pronounced: BAY-
ta thal-a-SEE-me-ah).
Alone, the gene poses little
cause for concern. However,
if two carriers conceive chil-
dren, their offspring will have
a 25 percent chance of having
the thalassemia disease. Oth-
erwise known as Cooley's ane-
mia, the disease destroys red
blood cells and body organs.
Cooley's anemia is fatal.
There is no known cure.
The thalassemia gene is
relatively common in Mediter-
ranean people (including
Sephardic Jews). An esti- Stanley Diamond
mated 3 percent of the world's
population carries it, including 1 might be unaware that they car-
to 2 percent of Israelis. The gene, ry the potentially dangerous trait.
"The ultimate goal is to ensure
however, is almost unheard of in
Ashkenazic Jews (Jews of Euro- that future generations of carri-
ers will be alerted to pass on the
pean descent).
So Mr. Diamond (an Ashke- awareness to each successive gen-
naz) was surprised when his eration," he says.

Mr. Diamond followed his own
advice. He set out on a genealog- ,
ical endeavor to determine how
the beta-thalassemia trait was
passed down through his own
family tree. Along the way, he Un-
covered relatives he never knew
existed and made international
headlines in publications like the

Jerusalem Post.
Mr. Diamond traced his roots
back eight generations to the
mid-18th century. Through
the use of Mormon Microfilms,
he constructed a family tree
with 700 members of the gene-
carrying family. Archivists in
Poland are helping him dig
more deeply tofmd addition-
al branches.
Through DNA testing, Mr.
Diamond found he had a spe-
cial mutated version of the
beta-thalassemia gene. Scien-
tists discovered that this nov-
el mutation matched the
beta-thalassemia gene of a
woman in Jerusalem.
Rita Paran, an immigrant
from the former Soviet Union,
had sought medical help in Is-
rael after the Chernobyl dig-
aster. Doctors determined that
she and her child had been
spared the devastating effects of
radiation, but they also found
that Ms. Paran carried a peculiar
version of the beta-thalassemia
gene.

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