By IRNA,
New Delhi : A rare and incurable endemic bone disease is posing a grave health risk to residents in a remote Tibetan region, with about 170,000 people threatened by it.
At least 14,662 people have been diagnosed with Kaschin-Beck disease in 11 counties in Qamdo prefecture, one of the most seriously affected regions, according to a survey conducted by local health authorities.
The survey said an estimated 1.70 lakh people stand at risk by the disease, pti reported.
The patients afflicted by the disease develop thick and deformed joints, which eventually prevents them from working.
Doctors say the cause of the disease remains unknown.
Some suspect that a fungus contained in barley, a staple food in the plateau, is to blame for it. Low iodine intake may be another cause, experts say.
The local government has been promoting relocation as a way to prevent the spread of the disease.
In the past five years, about 90 million yuan (USD 13. 55 million) has been spent on the relocation programme and nearly 20,000 residents have been moved out of the region, it said.
Kashin-Beck disease, a disorder of the bones and joints of the hands and fingers, elbows, knees, and ankles of children and adolescents who slowly develop stiff deformed joints, shortened limb length and short stature due to necrosis (death) of the growth plates of bones and of joint cartilage.
The disorder is endemic in some areas of eastern Siberia, Korea, China and Tibet and is probably of environmental origin, as evidenced by the fact that it occurs in children who move into the endemic areas and children with it who move away get better. Selenium supplementation has no effect on established Kashin-Beck disease. Iodine deficiency should be corrected. It is clearly a factor in the disease. Also called Kashin-Bek disease. The people in the areas subject to the disorder called it big bone disease.
Kashin-Beck disease occurrence is limited to 13 provinces and 2 autonomous regions of China. It has also been reported in Siberia and North Korea, but incidence in these regions is reported to have decreased with socio-economic development. In China, KBD is estimated to affect some 2 to 3 million people across China, and 30 million are living in endemic areas. Life expectancy in KBD regions has been reported to be significantly decreased in relation to selenium deficiency and Keshan disease (endemic juvenile dilative cardiomyopathia).