Bloom’s Syndrome carried by 1 in 100 Ashkenazi Jews.
Bloom syndrome is a rare inherited illness characterized by a high frequency of breaks and rearrangements in an affected person’s chromosomes. Bloom syndrome is a very rare disorder in most populations. It is more common in people of Central and Eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jewish background, among whom 1 in 48,000 are affected. Approximately one third of people with Bloom syndrome are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Bloom’s Syndrome is caused by a genetic mutation on chromosome 15. This causes a change in the enzyme known as DNA ligase.