Tay-Sachs disease screening and prevention in South Africa

Tay-Sachs disease is potentially preventable in Ashkenazi Jewish communities. About 1 out of 25 individuals is a carrier of the gene and can be accurately identified by means of a simple, inexpensive blood test. 'At risk' couples, i.e. couples of whom both partners are carriers, can be enabled, by means of prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion, to have only unaffected children. Mass screening programmes have been successfully carried out in the USA, Canada and Israel. A discussion of South African Jewish deomgraphy, attitudes to health, and priorities for public health projects, provide the background to a consideration of Tay-Sachs disease prevention in South Africa.