Progressive supranuclear palsy: new disease or variant of postencephalitic parkinsonism?
We review the etiological importance of the epidemic encephalitis for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and addresses the question of whether the explosion of PSP literature in the mid-20th century reflects the appearance of a new disease. We examined 2,000 studies on Parkinson's disease from 1861 to 1963 and found PSP-like cases in the past, before the epidemic encephalitis era. It can be assumed that PSP is neither a new disease nor a variant of postencephalitic parkinsonism.
Brusa
Adolfo
A
Galliera Hospital, Genoa, Italy. adolfobrusa@virgilio.it
Stoehr
Rolf
R
Pramstaller
Peter P
PP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010301:Parkinson Disease, Postencephalitic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000266:history; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000266:history