Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Clinic for Special Children discover ultra rare form of neuroinflammatory disease is much more common in Old Order Amish than general population
Philadelphia and Gordonville, PA, August 12, 2025 – Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Clinic for Special Children found that complement factor I (CFI) deficiency, an ultra-rare genetic disorder that can cause debilitating neuroinflammation, is more than 4500 times more likely to be found in individuals of Old Order Amish ancestry than the rest of the global population. These findings could help clinicians better recognize the disease and develop a standard-of-care, ...