By Jamie Shuster

(The following post was originally sent as an email to DHEC Public Health staff on 1/26/14.)

You may have read in the news today that we’re expanding our newborn screening program (NBS) to help detect more life-threatening conditions faster.

Currently, our state laboratory screens for 28 metabolic conditions that are recommended by the March of Dimes and the American College of Medical Genetics, as well as 24 secondary metabolic conditions that can cause severe problems if not found very early in life.

Thursday, we announced that we’ll soon join just 19 other states in screening newborns for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare and potentially fatal disorder characterized by an inability to fight infections. Continue reading →