Nodding syndrome
Síndrome del cabeceo (nodding syndrome)
- Date
- 1962 (descripción) · confidence medium
- Place
- Mahenge, Morogoro, Tanzania
- Credited to
- Louise Jilek-Aall
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A childhood epileptic disease of unknown cause with nodding episodes and growth retardation, described in the 1960s in the Mahenge mountains. It was also found in South Sudan and northern Uganda.
The cause is still undetermined: it is associated with Onchocerca volvulus but causation has not been shown. The first clinical description is credited to Louise Jilek-Aall in the 1960s (the first reference is usually dated 1962); it gained wider attention with the outbreak in Uganda and South Sudan in 2009-12.
What it led to
- studies of its link with onchocerciasis in Uganda and South Sudan
- WHO and CDC teams from 2012
- controversy over autoimmunity versus infection as its origin