H-KQGE
Dagobah Resident
An updated report on this "disease" that was first published online in "Epilepsia, The Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy" in 2008. Here's the link to the open-access neurological study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01671.x/abstract
It was last covered on SOTT at the beginning of last year. http://www.sott.net/article/240740-Could-mysterious-nodding-disease-in-Africa-have-global-implications
A review has recently been published in "Emerging Infectious Diseases", which collated what is known about it. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3810928/ (September 2013)
The following is from the review article.
In short, testing for poisons & infections have come up negative. Brain scans have been inconclusive with some showing minor abnormalities while others seem to show no detectable damage.
There have been some inconclusive associations, children with the nodding syndrome are more likely to have signs of infection by the river blindness parasite. But huge swathes of Africa have endemic river blindness and no nodding syndrome, and some children with nodding syndrome have no signs of infection.
Also the parasite is not thought to invade the nervous system and no trace of it has been found in the cerebrospinal fluid from any of the people with the syndrome. The authors of the review speculate that a new or similar parasite could be involved, but hard data is still lacking and the typical signs of infection are missing.
A form of vitamin B6 deficiency is known to cause neural problems and has been found in affected people but it has also been found in just as many people untouched by the mystery illness. One possibility is this could be a risk factor, making people more vulnerable to the condition, rather than a sole cause.
One idea as to why it is so specific relates to the increasing recognition that some neurological conditions are caused by the body’s immune system erroneously attacking very specific parts of the brain.
For example, in Sydenham’s chorea antibodies for the common sore throat bacteria end up attacking the basal ganglia, while in limbic encephalitis the immune system attacks the limbic system.
This sort of autoimmune problem is a reasonable suggestion given the symptoms, but in the end, it is another hypothesis that is awaiting hard data.
Anyone interested can check the YouTube video on this by Global Health News. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5S7QLocaS0M&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5S7QLocaS0M which is a 6 minute video. There are others there too. Notice the comments section of the video.
It was last covered on SOTT at the beginning of last year. http://www.sott.net/article/240740-Could-mysterious-nodding-disease-in-Africa-have-global-implications
A review has recently been published in "Emerging Infectious Diseases", which collated what is known about it. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3810928/ (September 2013)
The following is from the review article.
In short, testing for poisons & infections have come up negative. Brain scans have been inconclusive with some showing minor abnormalities while others seem to show no detectable damage.
There have been some inconclusive associations, children with the nodding syndrome are more likely to have signs of infection by the river blindness parasite. But huge swathes of Africa have endemic river blindness and no nodding syndrome, and some children with nodding syndrome have no signs of infection.
Also the parasite is not thought to invade the nervous system and no trace of it has been found in the cerebrospinal fluid from any of the people with the syndrome. The authors of the review speculate that a new or similar parasite could be involved, but hard data is still lacking and the typical signs of infection are missing.
A form of vitamin B6 deficiency is known to cause neural problems and has been found in affected people but it has also been found in just as many people untouched by the mystery illness. One possibility is this could be a risk factor, making people more vulnerable to the condition, rather than a sole cause.
One idea as to why it is so specific relates to the increasing recognition that some neurological conditions are caused by the body’s immune system erroneously attacking very specific parts of the brain.
For example, in Sydenham’s chorea antibodies for the common sore throat bacteria end up attacking the basal ganglia, while in limbic encephalitis the immune system attacks the limbic system.
This sort of autoimmune problem is a reasonable suggestion given the symptoms, but in the end, it is another hypothesis that is awaiting hard data.
Anyone interested can check the YouTube video on this by Global Health News. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5S7QLocaS0M&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5S7QLocaS0M which is a 6 minute video. There are others there too. Notice the comments section of the video.
