Why Children Have Seizures

Researchers from the University of Utah have discovered a hereditary cause of fever-induced childhood seizures by closely studying one Utah family. This type of seizure is very similar to those seen in the general population, where approximately four of every 100 young children develop seizures when they run a high fever.In a family of 48 members, 21 of them had experienced seizures caused by fevers in their infancy or childhood. Eight of those 21 developed other seizure disorders later in their lives. Though the great majority of children who have seizures caused by fevers become healthy adults, there researchers say there is a connection between childhood having seizures caused by fevers and getting epilepsy as an adult. About one percent of the general population has epilepsy or other seizure disorders. However, among adults who had seizures caused by fevers as a child, the rate is seven percent. Seizures or convulsions caused by fevers are muscular spasms of contraction and relaxation that may or may not include loss of consciousness. The most common ages for these seizures are between six months and two to three years old, though they can occur up to age six or eight. Fever-induced seizures are more likely to affect boys than girls. Through a method called genetic connections of the family, the researchers were able to find the chromosome associated with the seizures. They created a gene map, tracing who in the family inherited which chromosomes by following certain traits that they knew were located on a specific chromosome. They were even able to identify which section of the chromosome is involved. Researchers say the next step is to find out which genes on the chromosomes are responsible for causing the seizures.