AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Background and History: Warren Tay, a British ophthalmologist, is believed to have described the first patient with this disorder in an oral presentation to his colleagues in 1881. In 1887 an American physician and neurologist, Bernard Sachs, published an article in which he described the essential clinical features.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1881 British ophthalmologist Warren Tay made an unusual observation. He reported a cherry-red spot on the retina of a one-year-old patient, a patient who was also showing signs of progressive degeneration of the central nervous system as manifested in the child’s physical and mental retardation.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1887, American neurologist Bernard Sachs described the profound neurological symptoms of Tay-Sachs in a seminal paper: “… Nothing abnormal was noticed until the age of two to three months, when the parents observed that the child was much more listless than children of that age. …

Detailed explanation-4: -The disease is named after British ophthalmologist Waren Tay, who in 1881 first described a symptomatic red spot on the retina of the eye; and American neurologist Bernard Sachs, who described in 1887 the cellular changes and noted an increased rate of disease in Ashkenazi Jews.