] Spinal muscular atrophy and the gene that causes it,
] along with several other serious genetic disorders, are
] common in Saudi Arabia, where women have an average of
] six children and where in some regions more than half of
] the marriages are between close relatives.
]
] Across the Arab world today an average of 45 percent of
] married couples are related, according to Dr. Nadia
] Sakati, a pediatrician and senior consultant for the
] genetics research center at King Faisal Specialist
] Hospital in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia Awakes to the Perils of Inbreeding