Since this summer, more than a thousand children in northern Uganda have been diagnosed with "pecking syndrome" or "nodding syndrome", a mysterious disease that got its name from its most striking symptom - the involuntary nodding of the head as if the person wants to confirm something, or to start " key".
In recent years, the disease has appeared periodically in Sudan and Tanzania, writes Blic.
It is a neurological disease that affects otherwise healthy children between the ages of 5 and 15, the cause of which is unknown. There is no cure, and the prognosis is very bad.
Children first have problems with concentration, soon the characteristic nodding of the head appears, usually while eating or when looking at food. As the disease progresses, children begin to lag behind in growth and show signs of physical and mental handicap. The prognosis is bad - death.
"We have no reports of anyone recovering from this disease, but that's why there are reports of children dying from it. Anyone who gets it will die with it, and much earlier than they would otherwise," says pediatrician Jennifer Foltz of the Epidemic Information Service.
For now, epidemiologists know that it is a series of small nerve attacks that, among other things, cause a momentary loss of tone in the neck.
For now, epidemiologists know that it is a series of small nerve attacks that, among other things, cause a momentary loss of tone in the neck, which is where the nodding originates, while brain scans have shown that the patients have signs of degeneration of nerve tissue.
Some researchers suggest that the disease may have something to do with the parasite "Onchocerca volvulus", which also causes blindness, but it remains a mystery how the disease actually occurs and how it could be cured.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention report:
Gallery
Bonus video:
