Phenylketonuria and the Interest of Introducing a Systematic Neonatal Screening: Case of Morocco

Phenylketonuria is a serious metabolic disease caused by a defect in the enzyme that breaks down an amino acid. Untreated, it can lead to behavioural problems and mental disorders. Our work concerns a prospective study of 23 cases, of children with phenylketonuria, diagnosed late at the stage of psychomotor retardation and followed in the neuro-paediatrics department of University Health Centre of Rabat, Morocco, over a period of 11 years from January 2008 until November 2019. The interest of our work is to draw public health attention to the interest of the introduction of systematic neonatal screening for phenylketonuria in developing countries.