IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology
Girl who feels no pain could inspire new painkillers
• newscientist.comPeople with congenital analgesia cannot feel physical pain and often injure themselves as a result – they might badly scald their skin, for example, through being unaware that they are touching something hot.
By comparing the gene sequence of a girl with the disorder against those of her parents, who do not, Ingo Kurth at Jena University Hospital in Germany and his colleagues identified a mutation in a gene called SCN11A.
1 Comments in Response to Girl who feels no pain could inspire new painkillers
Pain is good at times. It helps us recognize when we are in danger... like when we are touching something so hot that continuing to touch it will leave a scar. Yet, it would be nice to be able to turn pain on and of at will, so that chronic pain that does no good could be alleviated.