146: Common and rare diseases

Seeing that Zhong Chenglong couldn't utter those three words for a long time, Qin Jiang sighed, and immediately understood.

Zhong Xiguo anxiously asked from the side, "Dr. Qin, what exactly is wrong with my son?"

Qin Jiang glanced at him and then said, "Phenylketonuria."

Both Zhong Xiguo and Zhong Chenglong were stunned.

What is phenylketonuria?

Qin Jiang continued to explain, "Phenylketonuria is a relatively common metabolic disease, but your son's situation is very rare."

Qin Jiang's words confused Zhong Xiguo.

"No, Dr. Qin, is this disease common or rare?"

Qin Jiang continued, "The reason why I say this disease is common is because its prevalence is not low; many people have it."

"But the reason why I say it's rare is because this disease is mostly congenital; you can understand it as a genetic disease."

"And this genetic disease is screened for in our country during infancy, so if your son had this disease, he should have been checked at birth."

"Therefore, it's a miracle that he has lived until now, and it's an even rarer miracle that the disease only started to manifest now."

Hearing Qin Jiang say this, everyone understood.

It turns out that this disease is checked by the Hospital at birth.

No wonder many babies have their blood drawn by the Hospital immediately after birth; it turns out it was for these checks.

Qin Jiang looked at Zhong Xiguo and asked, "So, when Zhong Chenglong was born, the Hospital didn't give him a comprehensive check-up, did they?"

Zhong Xiguo said somewhat awkwardly, "At that time, we had a midwife deliver him at home, and we didn't go to the Hospital or anything."

Qin Jiang looked at Zhong Xiguo with surprise and said very seriously, "What era is this? How are you still having midwives deliver babies at home?"

"If something goes wrong, who among you can take responsibility?"

In ancient times, people sought midwives because they didn't have the medical conditions, so they could only give birth at home.

But now there are health clinics and Hospitals in towns and villages; no matter what, you shouldn't be looking for a midwife to give birth at home!

If you're lucky, the mother and child are safe, but even so, there's a possibility that the lack of disinfection and sterilization could lead to lifelong inflammation or gynecological problems for the woman.

If you're unlucky and encounter a breech birth or a major hemorrhage, it's very likely to result in two lives lost!

At this moment, Qin Jiang could only sigh at Zhong Chenglong's good fortune.

People with phenylketonuria need to maintain a low-ketone diet at all times, otherwise their condition will worsen.

This is also the main method of treating this disease now—dietary therapy.

But Zhong Chenglong is in his early twenties, which means he has had this disease for more than twenty years without knowing it, and he hasn't restricted his diet, yet the disease only started to manifest today.

What is this if not a miracle?

Hearing Qin Jiang criticize him for not using a Hospital for delivery, Zhong Xiguo also felt a bit awkward.

"Mainly, our family was poor and we couldn't afford to go to the Hospital, so we chose to give birth at home."

"But now that Dr. Qin has explained it, we understand, and we definitely won't do it this way again in the future."

Qin Jiang glanced at Zhong Xiguo.

"Are you still planning on having a second child?"

Zhong Xiguo gave an embarrassed smile and didn't say anything more.

He did want a second child, but Liu Xiu's situation didn't allow it.

After all, at her age, giving birth would be a high-risk pregnancy and very dangerous.

Qin Jiang continued, "I just said that this is a genetic disease."

"And based on our test reports, the reason he got this disease is because of you two."

Qin Jiang looked at the couple and said, "Your blood relationship must be very close, right? How did you get married in the first place?"

As soon as Qin Jiang said this, the bullet comments in the live stream immediately flooded the screen.

"What does Dr. Qin mean by this? What does it mean for blood relations to be very close? Can a husband and wife have blood relations?"

"It's best for a husband and wife not to have blood relations, otherwise it's consanguineous marriage. I think Dr. Qin is implying that this couple is in such a situation."

"No wonder Zhong Chenglong got this disease; it turns out it's all due to consanguineous marriage."

"Is consanguineous marriage really that terrifying?"

"Upstairs, do you know about the imperial family over in Japan? They practice consanguineous marriage, saying they want to maintain the noble imperial bloodline and not let it be defiled. You can go search and see what their children are like now."

The more ignorant and backward a place is, the more it advocates consanguineous marriage.

There are two main reasons for this.

One is the theory of bloodline.

Some people always feel that the reason people are different is because of the bloodline or genes in their bodies, which determine whether a person is excellent.

There is some truth to this, as genes have a huge impact on people.

Whether it's appearance, physique, personality, or even organs, all are influenced by genes.

However, the idea that one can maintain this genetic advantage simply by marrying relatives is absolutely wrong.

Consanguineous marriage can lead to various genetic diseases, and the probability will greatly increase!

The other reason is related to the environment.

For example, in some remote mountain villages, there might only be a few dozen or a hundred people.

Because of inconvenient transportation and not often going out, they can be said to live a life isolated from the world.

As a result, marriage partners can naturally only be chosen from within the village.

Over time, everyone in the village becomes relatives, and the more times they marry, the more deformed the offspring born, and the greater the problems.

Zhong Xiguo clearly belonged to the second type.

After Qin Jiang's patient explanation, Zhong Xiguo finally realized the dangers of consanguineous marriage.

He was momentarily at a loss for words; he even felt that he had no face to confront Zhong Chenglong.

"This... this was actually caused by me?"

Zhong Xiguo found it somewhat difficult to forgive himself.

After all, from childhood to adulthood, Zhong Xiguo had put a lot of pressure on Zhong Chenglong to go to college.

Including this time when Zhong Chenglong had health problems, Zhong Xiguo's first reaction was not to believe him, but to think that Zhong Chenglong had gone astray in the big city.

It turned out that after all this trouble, the root of all problems was actually within himself.

Seeing Zhong Xiguo's reaction, Qin Jiang explained, "You don't need to blame yourself too much. Phenylketonuria is not an incurable disease, nor is it a very troublesome one."

"As long as Zhong Chenglong takes his medicine on time and maintains a low-ketone diet for the rest of his life, there won't be any major problems, and he can certainly continue his studies."

"Moreover, your son is already among the lucky ones, as his intelligence does not have any obvious defects; in fact, he can be said to be smarter than average, which is something to be thankful for."

After Qin Jiang finished speaking, he pointed to the QR code on the table.

"This consultation fee is a total of 46,000 yuan. After the discount, we'll charge 31,000 yuan. You can put it on account, and for now, just pay 4,000 yuan."

Zhong Xiguo expressed his thanks and quickly took out his phone to scan the code and pay.