Other States - Madhya Pradesh   

Consanguineous marriages increase risk of early blindness, says expert

Bhopal: The tradition of marriage between blood relatives in the southern States has increased the danger of blindness at an early age.

"Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) generally runs among youths in the families where there are consanguineous marriages," National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (Chennai) research officer Arivardhan told reporters from Madhya Pradesh who had gone on a PIB-sponsored tour of the southern States. He said 40-42 per cent people in the country suffer from some sort of blindness. Most of them are cataract patients followed by RP, in which youths are affected by blurred vision when they are around 20-years-old. By the time they turn 35 they lose vision entirely.

"Consanguineous marriages are prevalent among some Hindu castes besides Muslims, in some States," he said. — UNI

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