The most severe type of OI is type II. This form of the disease affects as many as one in sixty thousand people. Type II is usually caused by a new gene mutation. Many affected newborns do not live past birth, mainly due to respiratory problems, and those that do have very difficult lives. Infants who survive are severely affected. In recent years some patients with OI Type II have survived into young adulthood.
Affecting approximately 10 percent of people with OI, Type II is the most severe form of this disease. The result of a spontaneous gene mutation, the collagen in Type II OI is improperly formed. The bones of people with Type II OI are extremely fragile and often have severe deformities. Type II OI frequently causes death at or shortly after birth.
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