Scots child diagnosed with rare drink-related disease

Published on Sunday 11 May 2008 20:46

A CHILD in Lanarkshire has become the youngest person in the UK to be diagnosed with a rare drink-related brain disease that usually affects alcoholics.

The youngster, aged between 11 and 13, was one of only 419 people in Scotland diagnosed with Korsakoff's syndrome last year, according to figures revealed yesterday.

Korsakoff's syndrome, sometimes known as "wet brain", normally affects males aged between 40 and 59 years and females between 30 and 49 years. The degenerative brain disorder is usually caused by a vitamin deficiency most commonly due to long-term alcohol abuse.

Treatment is by injections of the B-vitamin thiamine, but recovery is typically slow and incomplete.

Dr William Morrison, consultant in emergency medicine and chairman of the alcohol group for QIS, the NHS's quality improvement group in Scotland, said: "I am astounded that someone so young could have Korsakoff's syndrome. I have never come across a case like this.

"This child has obviously had an excess alcohol intake over several months or longer. This is more evidence Scotland has an alcohol problem and we have an age group leading us towards a health crisis."