• Mitochondrial disease is incurable.
• One in every 2,000 babies born will develop a mitochondrial disease in their lifetime. Half will develop the disease before their 5th birthday.
• Mitochondrial disease is nearly as common as childhood cancer.
• Recent research results indicate that mitochondrial dysfunction is a large factor in degenerative disorders of aging like diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
• There is little federal or state funding to support mitochondrial disease.
• New testing methods developed during the past ten years have advanced the diagnosis of some mitochondrial diseases.
• Many mitochondrial disease patients go undiagnosed and, as a result, these patients and their families suffer.
• It is precisely this combination of “newness” and diagnostic difficulty that works against recognition of mitochondrial disease and the finding of an effective cure.
• The consequences of this genetic disorder can be devastating to those afflicted and their families.

Mitochondrial Metobolic Disease Center (MMDC), University of California, San Diego School of Medicine