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Friday, January 6, 2012

INFLUENZA TREBLES THE RISK OF PARKINSON SYMPTOMS


15th December 2011 - New research



Influenza and other respiratory viruses [2011] 5 (5) : 328-333 (S.Toovey, S.S.Jick, C.R.Meier)

Influenza has been found to treble the risk of Parkinson symptoms. Influenza has been associated with Encephalitis Lethargica, a medical disorder causing the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease following the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Recent influenza (influenza in the past month) was associated with a trebling of the likelihood of Parkinson symptoms. Influenza some time in the past year was associated with only a small increase in the likelihood of Parkinson symptoms. The number of previous attacks progressively increased the likelihood of Parkinson symptoms. However, influenza did not increase the likelihood of actual Parkinson's Disease. The relevance of this research may be that people could be wrongly diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, when what they have actually had is influenza. Around 25% of people are wrongly diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and do not actually have it.

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