As a result, people with Type III may experience irregular eye movement, seizures, and mental retardation. Type I Gaucher disease, in fact, is the most common genetic disease among Jews. An estimated one in 10 Ashkenazi Jews is a carrier of Gaucher disease. Types II and III, however, are not more prevalent among the Jewish population. Gaucher disease is hereditary, meaning that it is passed from parents to children.
Many parents are carriers of the disease.
Carriers are people who do not have the disease or any of its symptoms, but who can pass it on to their children. When both parents are carriers, their children may be affected with the disease, may be carriers, or may neither have the disease nor be carriers. In this way, the disease can seem to skip generations. Because carriers have no disease symptoms, most parents are unaware whether they are carriers. It can be very difficult for parents to learn that they are carriers, and to accept that their children may be carriers or may have the disease.