What Does Syndrome Mean?

Syndrome refers to a set of symptoms that is indicative of some disease, an abnormal condition or a psychological order. AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a syndrome, a set of symptoms and signs that characterize a debilitating illness or medical condition.

Some of the synonyms of the word "syndrome" are condition, pattern and disorder. A syndrome is described in medical terms as a group of clinically recognizable phenomena, signs or symptoms that occur together alerting the physician of a disease. The Greek origin of the word "syndrome" means "run together." Syndrome can also be a set of symptoms that indicate an undesirable quality. A set of attitudes and beliefs that gel together is also informally called as a syndrome. The word is said to have made inroads into popular English literature in the year 1540.

Down Syndrome

In every cell in the human body there is a nucleus, where genetic material is stored in genes.  Genes carry the codes responsible for all of our inherited traits and are grouped along rod-like structures called chromosomes.  Typically, the nucleus of each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, half of which are inherited from each parent. Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21.

This additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with Down syndrome. A few of the common physical traits of Down syndrome are low muscle tone, small stature, an upward slant to the eyes, and a single deep crease across the center of the palm - although each person with Down syndrome is a unique individual and may possess these characteristics to different degrees, or not at all.