What Causes Albinism?
Albinism is inherited. It’s not contagious — you can’t “catch” it from someone else. People are born with albinism because they inherit an albinism gene or genes from their parents. In the most common forms of oculocutaneous albinism, both parents must carry the albinism gene for a child to be born with the condition. Even if both parents carry the gene, the chance of each of their children being born with albinism is one in four. If just one parent has the gene and the other parent has a normal pigment gene, their children won’t have oculocutaneous albinism. But each child will have a one in two chance of being a “carrier” of an albinism gene. If a child who carries the gene grows up to have a baby with someone who also does, there’s a one in four chance that their baby may have albinism. Since most people who carry an albinism gene don’t show any signs of the condition, a baby with albinism can be born to parents whose coloring is typical for people of their ethnic group. The most co
