Waardenburg syndrome in South Africa. Part II. Is there founder effect for type I?

Three South African families of Afrikaner descent with the Waardenburg syndrome (WS) type I have been traced back for 12 generations. The families may be related through a French Huguenot couple who came to the Cape in 1683. Although the number of families in this study is small and the information incomplete and, although the earliest known family member with WS was born in 1842, the findings suggest that founder effect for the gene for WS type I may possibly exist in the Afrikaner population of South Africa.