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Newborn screening for severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) saves lives and money: a cost-effective public health policy

Severe combined immune deficiency (SCID), also known as “bubble boy disease,” is a rare inherited disorder of the immune system that leads to recurrent severe infections. In the absence of effective treatment, SCID is usually fatal within the first 2 years of life. Treatment by hematopoietic cell transplantation can minimize the devastating effects of SCID, Read More >

March 15, 2016 by Scott D. Grosse, Health Economist, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

newborn screening, Severe Combine Immune Deficiency

genetic testing, genetics, genomics

Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Public Health Education

a woman looking at her spit in a test tube, sequencing wrapped around a hand, a person looking at double helix on a monitor, a person discussion her genetic test results with a counslor and a crowd of people

We have previously blogged about the value (or lack thereof) of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests in improving health. In a 2011 blog entitled “think before you spit” we cautioned that there was very little evidence that the use of such tests improves health and prevents disease for healthy people in the population. The blog was Read More >

March 8, 2016 by Muin J Khoury, Director, Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

genomics, personal medicine

genetic testing, genetics, personal genomics, public health