Spencer Peter S
Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
Brain Commun. 2023 Sep 1;5(5):fcad236. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcad236. eCollection 2023.
Nodding syndrome is a paediatric epileptic encephalopathy of unknown aetiology that affects children in impoverished communities of Eastern Africa subject to internal displacement. Set in southcentral South Sudan, where nodding syndrome first surfaced circa 1990, an important new study of recent-onset cases of nodding syndrome examined parasitic, bacterial, viral, immune-mediated, metabolic and nutritional factors associated with the brain disease. Infection with the nematode , but not with , was the most prominent finding in nodding syndrome cases versus controls. While is unlikely to be causal of nodding syndrome, investigation of the freshwater habitats, where insect-to-human transmission of the filarial larvae takes place, may reveal a clue as to the aetiology of this neurodegenerative disease. The culpable environmental agent(s) must be able to induce neuroinflammation and tau pathology preferentially in infants and children.
点头综合征是一种病因不明的小儿癫痫性脑病，影响东非受境内流离失所影响的贫困社区中的儿童。以南苏丹中南部为背景，点头综合征于1990年左右首次出现，一项关于点头综合征新发病例的重要新研究检查了与这种脑部疾病相关的寄生虫、细菌、病毒、免疫介导、代谢和营养因素。与对照组相比，感染线虫（而非 ）是点头综合征病例中最突出的发现。虽然 不太可能是点头综合征的病因，但对丝虫幼虫发生昆虫到人类传播的淡水栖息地进行调查，可能会揭示这种神经退行性疾病病因的线索。罪魁祸首环境因素必须能够优先在婴儿和儿童中诱发神经炎症和tau病理。
