Signs & Symptoms
Symptoms usually begin at two to six months of age.
The average age of death is 13 months (ranging 6 months - 5 years.)
Stage One:
- General irritability (excessive crying)
- Stiffness
- Arrest of motor and mental development
- Loss of previously attained milestones
- Difficulty in feeding
- Seizures
Many babies in Stage One Krabbe Disease are misdiagnosed. It is common for parents of
these babies to be told that their infant has colic, reflux, food/milk allergy, or
even cerebral palsy.
Stage Two:
- Children may have severe arching of the back
- Jerking of the arms and/or legs
- More severe and rapid deterioration of mental and motor function
- Generally fed through a tube
Stage Three:
- Children lose mental and motor function
- Become deaf and blind
- Unable to move or speak
Later onset Krabbe Disease, while less common, delays the onset of neurological
symptoms until middle childhood, adolescence or adulthood.
|
