200 years ago the St James Gazette of England published the following obituary: "March 10, 1754. Hopkins Hopkins, the little Welshman , recently exhibited in London, died in Glamorganshire, of sheer old age and a gradual decay of nature, to 17 years and two months. He never weighed more than 6 and a half kilos and during the last three years he did not exceed five. Parents still have six children left, who do not differ in any way from other children, with the exception of a twelve-year-old girl, who weighs almost 7 kilos, who carries all the signs of old age, and who in every way resembles her brother when he was that age. "
Apparently, this is the first written description of a very rare disease called progeria , literally, early old age . There are less than a hundred perfectly described cases and it is assumed to be caused by a recessive gene. This means that normal people can be carriers of the disease and that it only manifests itself when both parents have that gene. And even in that case, only one in four manifests the disease .
People with Progeria stop growing when they are very young. At 7 or 8 years old he seems old: he has wrinkles, his teeth fall out … A typical Progeria patient reaches his maximum height at the age of 13, turns gray at 20, suffers from cataracts at 25 and between 30 and 40 presents all the ailments of old age. They usually die at 47.
