What is HD?

Huntington disease (HD) is a hereditary brain disorder with devastating effects on both mind and body.

• One in every 1,000 Canadians is touched by HD – for example, as an affected individual, person at risk, friend, family member or caregiver.
• One in every 10,000 Canadians has Huntington disease.
• Every child of a person with HD has a 50% risk of inheriting the disease.

There is still no cure for Huntington disease, and there are no treatments which can prevent HD or slow it down. However, the accelerating pace of research is offering more hope than ever before that a solution will be discovered one day soon.

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Juvenile HD

There is also a juvenile form of Huntington disease. It can occur in individuals as young as five years of age. When HD appears in someone under the age of 20 years, the illness is recongnized as "juvenile Huntington disease". Juvenile HD is characterized by a movement disorder which differs from that of affected adults.

Like its adult counterpart, juvenile HD remains incurable, and there are no treatments which can stop or slow the course of the disease. Dramatic advances in research have given rise to tremendous optimism that new forms of therapy will soon be in sight.

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