Webcast and Experts Consortium Highlight National Fragile X Awareness Day Activities

DENVER, July 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than two dozen of the leading fragile X syndrome (FXS) treatment specialists in North America will convene at Children's Hospital Denver on Friday, July 20, at the third gathering of the Fragile X Clinics Consortium. The event is part of a larger observance of National Fragile X Awareness Day on July 22, which was first proclaimed by Congress in 2000.

The consortium meeting will bring together a group of medical professionals, therapists and counselors from the U.S. and Canada. It will be held in conjunction with a three-hour webcast, "Treatment of Difficult Cases," that will be broadcast from the hospital after the consortium meeting. The entire event is being organized by The National Fragile X Foundation.

Fragile X syndrome is the world's leading cause of inherited intellectual disabilities (formerly referred to as mental retardation) and the most common known, single-gene cause of autism. The same genetic mutation that results in FXS is also known to cause balance, tremor and memory problems in adult male carriers (a condition known as fragile X-associated tremor ataxia syndrome, or "FXTAS") and reproductive problems in female carriers (the condition of premature ovarian failure, or "POF"). When all three Fragile X-related conditions are taken into account, more than one million Americans are either affected or at-risk to be affected.

The timing of this year's consortium meeting is auspicious, considering the recent national coverage of the tragic murder-suicide involving wrestler Chris Benoit and his family. Early reports suggested that Benoit's son was affected by fragile X syndrome, which may have played a contributing role in the stress that led him to take the lives of his wife, son and then himself. However, subsequent reports cast significant doubt on whether the child had FXS. Nonetheless, for more than a week, numerous stories across all media made at least passing reference to the condition. Some of those references were accurate, some erroneous.

The National Fragile X Foundation (NFXF) was founded in 1984. Among its many activities, it provides support services and education, promotes awareness activities, organizes international conferences, funds scientific research, and leads a legislative advocacy effort in Washington, D.C.