A retinopathy on Guam with high prevalence in Lytico-Bodig.
A pigmentary retinopathy resembling that sometimes seen in posterior ophthalmomyiasis interna was found in 26 (53.1%) of 49 Chamorro patients from Guam who have Lytico-Bodig (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonism-dementia complex of Guam). In nine cases, the retinopathy was bilateral. Similar changes were found in 6 (16.2%) of 37 clinically normal individuals from southern villages on Guam that have a high incidence of Lytico-Bodig, and in 1 (3.1%) of 32 individuals from Saipan, an island north of Guam that has a low incidence of the disease. These results indicate the possibility of an association-between Lytico-Bodig and a retinopathy on Guam that may be parasitic in origin. Occurrence of a similar association in other debilitating diseases on Guam and frequency of occurrence of retinopathy in Guamanians with Lytico-Bodig after leaving Guam have yet to be determined.
Cox
T A
TA
Department of Ophthalmology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
McDarby
J V
JV
Lavine
L
L
Steele
J C
JC
Calne
D B
DB
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004585:Electrooculography; D004596:Electroretinography; D005260:Female; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006141:Guam / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009887:Ophthalmoscopy; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000473:pathology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology