The Gibraltar Health Authority's Department of Pathology has been involved in a pilot study that has resulted in babies in the UK being screened for additional medical conditions.

Run by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, the study tested Heel Prick samples, taken from all babies between 5 and 8 days old, for certain extra Genetic conditions in addition to those already checked.

Extra conditions to now be tested for include; Maple syrup urine disease, Homocystinuria, Glutaric acidaemia type 1 and Isovaleric acidaemia. All of these conditions affect the breaking down of amino acids. Screening for these conditions can help with dietary advice to help prevent a build-up of these harmful proteins in the system.

The GHA has stressed that these conditions are rare with the study discovering that only 20 confirmed cases were found in 700,000 babies.