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By Mayo Clinic staffA number of complications — including infections and respiratory difficulties — can develop in children whose Krabbe disease has progressed. In the later stages of the disease, children become incapacitated, confined to their beds, and eventually lapse into a vegetative mental state.
Most children who develop Krabbe disease in infancy die before the age of 2 years old, most often from respiratory failure or complications of immobility and markedly decreased muscle tone. Children in whom the disease develops later in childhood may have a somewhat longer life expectancy, usually between two and seven years after diagnosis.
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