Outbreak of The Mysterious Nodding Syndrome in Africa
There’s
another mysterious disease that emerged out of Africa: a nodding syndrome,
which causes young children and adolescents to nod violently when they
eat food.
Large areas of northern Uganda are experiencing an outbreak of
nodding syndrome, a mysterious disease that causes young children and
adolescents to nod violently when they eat food. The disease, which
may be an unusual form of epilepsy, could be linked to the parasitic
worm responsible for river blindness, a condition that affects some
18 million people, most of them in Africa.
According to Wikipedia, it’s not as funny as it sounds: the
disease also causes mental retardation, stunted growth, and a near
100% fatality rate.
