Menkes disease is a genetic disease characterized by a lack of copper in the body due to intestinal malabsorption, which causes a number of problems that prevent the child's normal motor development.
The disease leads to hypotonia, muscle weakness, seizures, hair does not grow normally thin, thin and weak or curly and coiled. Individuals with menkes disease suffer from hypoglycaemia, poor temperature regulation, mental retardation, and skin and joint changes.
The symptoms of menkes disease are:
- Hair weak, thin or curled and hardened,
- Muscle weakness,
- Brittle and brittle bones,
- Deterioration of the nervous system,
- Convulsions,
- Cold skin.
Children born with menkes disease should be treated with copper, but the results are often not enough and they end up dying before the first year of life.
The disease begins to manifest itself within the first 2 to 3 months of the baby's life, causing the baby to lose the development he had already acquired. The treatment is done with copper injections, physiotherapy, and nutrition, can aid in the consumption of copper in the diet.
