I just think it would be great if you could just give a swab of DNA to your doctor, and he could analize your whole body with it, and determine what diseases you have, illnesses, etc.
Could this ever be possible in the future as your Well Being physical exam?
2007-08-28 21:21:44 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
Not really because DNA is just the code or genotype of what is you. What becomes you in terms of hair color, eyes, skin, or even maladies are phenotypes, essentially how the genes are expressed. Genetic typing could be useful in identifying potential disease risks for certain individuals or genetic defects, but many diseases occur due to envirnonmental effects, not what is determined by the nature of your DNA. A health exam will essentially diagnose diseases you may currently have, whereas genetics can underlie your predisposition to a disease.
2007-08-28 21:37:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 8⤊ 2⤋
Nope.
How would a broken bone, or a blocked coronary artery, or obstructive lung disease from smoking be diagnosed? They do not have a genetic basis (although there may be a genetic predisposition for some of them)
There is no substitute for a physical exam.
2007-08-29 16:22:30 · answer #2 · answered by Pangolin 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Not possible. DNA only shows the genetic codes. If that were the case, how would your doc know if the disease that shows up is yours or just runs in your family?
2007-08-29 08:48:02 · answer #3 · answered by jill48 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No.
DNA may be able to predict what diseases you may develop (so long as they have a genetic basis of course). DNA will not give you a picture of how the body is doing at that one moment. I.e. if you have a sinus infection, your DNA does not change to reflect the fact that you have a sinus infection.
2007-08-29 07:47:42 · answer #4 · answered by dwp_hornblower 4 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Very possible indeed. In fact, high technology DNA testing is now offered by some laboratories to check for causes of diseases or illnesses that have "unknown cause". It is said that DNA testing can find pathogens that are not detected by microbiology testing.
The on-going human genome project hopefully will uncover various facts that would make an understanding of the human body as a whole through DNA or genes in general.
Therefore, we can speculate that in the future (we can not tell when), a swab of DNA is all what is needed to have physical exam. Just hope that less expensive DNA examination will be devised that time.
But probably, that will come into realization after few (or more) generations after us......
2007-08-29 04:53:17 · answer #5 · answered by ♥ lani s 7 · 3⤊ 7⤋