Human progeria comes in two major forms, Werner's syndrome (adult-onset progeria) and Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome (juvenile-onset progeria). Werner's patients are usually diagnosed in early maturity and have an average life span of forty-seven years. Hutchinson-Gilford patients are usually diagnosed within the first two years of life and have an average life span of thirteen years. The latter syndrome is often simply termed "progeria" and both are sometimes lumped together as progeroid syndromes.

Progeria's Effects

There is considerable controversy as to whether or not progeria is a form of aging at all. Most clinicians believe that progeria is truly a form of early aging, although only a segmental form in which only certain specific tissues and cell types of the body age early. Hutchinson-Gilford children show what appears to be early aging of their skin, bones, joints, and cardiovascular system, but not of their immune or...