Can dementia occur in kids? Two toddlers diagnosed with the condition recently

Two toddlers, aged 6 and 2, have been diagnosed with a rare disease of the nervous system. The brothers Michael and Oliver were diagnosed with type 2 Battens disease, in April and May, respectively, NewYork Post quoted their mother saying. Her sons have been diagnosed having dementia due to this rare genetic disease.

Batten disease has a lower incidence rate of one in every 100,000 children. The US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) defines it as: Batten disease (also known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, NCL) is the name for a group of inherited nervous system disorders that most often begin in childhood. They interfere with a cell's ability to recycle a cellular residue called lipofuscin.

​​Heart disease warning: 7 signs of poor blood circulation you need to know​​

While describing her situation, the devastated mother told the media that she had never heard about the disease. "I’d never heard of Battens disease, so I googled it straight away. I just broke down in hysterics. How could this be happening to my baby?," she told the media. "It had gone completely under the radar, we never knew anything about it and there had never been anything similar that we knew of in our near family history," she added.

​Havana syndrome: As Indian govt plans to investigate the mysterious disease, let's know what it is​​

The common symptoms seen in patients having this disease are progressive loss of vision which ultimately leads to blindness, seizures, movement disorders, and dementia. In kids, the disease is identified by a lack of developmental skills like walking, talking, and standing. The kids also experience "learning difficulties, poor concentration, and progressive loss of language skills and speech", the US NINDS says.

​​Diabetes: 7 body parts that can warn you of excessive blood sugar level​​

As per the media reports, the parents first noticed "an oddity in Michael’s eye function just before his fifth birthday." They say the elder child Michael started having seizures when he was four years old, but they did not recognize them to be something serious because the seizure attacks were so subtle. The couple also shared with the media that his eyes started rolling when he was turning five and "it started happening more and more as he was walking, playing, and eating". A genetic test confirmed that the couple carried Battens disease and had passed the genes to their elder child. Michael is also showing signs of apraxia, a speech disorder.

Following their elder child's prognosis, the couple got their other two kids, aged 4 and 2, tested for this and it was found that their youngest child, who is aged 2, also has those genes.