Medical Events Contact us baby with Tay-Sachs disease appears healthy at birth, and seems to be developing normally for a few months.
Symptoms generally appear by six months of age.
While symptoms vary from one child to the next, there is always a slowing down of development. Gradually, Tay-Sachs children lose motor skills and mental functions. Over time, the child becomes blind, deaf, mentally retarded, paralyzed and non responsive to the environment. Tay-Sachs children usually die by age five. Hex-A is needed for the body to break down a fatty waste substance found in brain cells.