As we are just emerging from the biggest health crisis the world has experienced in decades, the issue of illness and the measures to be taken to counter it is once again at the forefront of French people’s concerns. The widespread anxiety that has rightly gripped the population in recent months reflects the importance of health for personal development and the need to have a clear diagnosis to reassure oneself.
For most of us, the difference between hereditary disease and genetic disease is non-existent. However, these two medical terms cover a range of different diseases. Generally speaking, we can say that all hereditary diseases are genetic but that the reverse is false. Here is an article dealing with the different definitions of these two terms and their consequences for health. Explanations.
What is a genetic disease?
A disease is categorized as genetic when it is directly caused by an abnormality identified at the level of a chromosome or a gene. This abnormality can be transmitted by the parents, which will then give the double cap of hereditary disease and genetic disease to the pathology. However many genetic diseases are the result of environmental factors that interfere with DNA but are not transmitted. This is the case for asthma, Alzheimer’s or Down syndrome for example.
Brugada syndrome is also a genetic disease, but it is also hereditary. A diagnosis of Brugada syndrome is often difficult to make. This is why a second medical opinion is recommended because it can reassure you and help you see more clearly about the disease and its treatments.
What is a hereditary disease?
The difference between a hereditary disease and a genetic disease lies only in the ability to be transmitted between generations. As we have already seen, not all genetic diseases are transmissible from parents to their children, but on the other hand, all hereditary diseases necessarily have a genetic component. Be aware, however, that the transmission of a hereditary pathology is not obligatory from parents to children.
Among the most well-known hereditary diseases, we could cite hemophilia which is transmitted by the mother, color blindness, cystic fibrosis, or sickle cell disease. Each of these diseases is carried by a genetic anomaly which will be transmitted to the fetus during fertilization and can even become a family pathology that will be transmitted from generation to generation.
Hereditary disease and genetic disease, is a second opinion necessary?
Hereditary disease and genetic disease, whatever its nature, a second medical opinion can be important to reassure people targeted by a diagnosis. This is particularly the case during prenatal diagnoses which generally involve difficult choices for parents. Relying on a second opinion allows you to be reassured, to have a second approach to the disease and ultimately to make a much more informed choice.
Especially since medical cultures sometimes vary from one practitioner to another. Having the chance to benefit from a second opinion sometimes means glimpsing an alternative possibility and opening up new horizons to overcome the suffering and implications of a particular symptom. If it confirms the diagnosis, it sometimes allows a different therapeutic strategy to be chosen after having encouraged the acceptance of their condition by the individual concerned and can suggest, for example, psychotherapy if necessary.
