Duchenne muscular dystrophy is one of more than 20 types of muscular dystrophy. All the
muscular dystrophies are caused by faults in genes (the units of inheritance that parents
pass on to their children) and they cause progressive muscle weakness because muscle cells
break down and are gradually lost. The Duchenne type affects only boys (with extremely
rare exceptions) and a problem in this gene is known to result in a defect in a single
important protein in muscle fibres called dystrophin. It is named after Dr Duchenne de
Boulogne who worked in Paris in the mid-19th century who was one of the first people to
study the muscular dystrophies
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