Walusinski O. A history of oculogyric crises during the encephalitis lethargica pandemic.
Rev Neurol (Paris) 2022;
178:878-885. [PMID:
35568513 DOI:
10.1016/j.neurol.2022.01.013]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
A pandemic of what came to be known as encephalitis lethargica spread starting in the winter of 1916-1917 and continued into the 1930s. Neurological after-effects, namely permanent parkinsonian syndromes and various abnormal movements, permanently disabled the survivors of the one or two million victims, often children or young adults. Among them, a small proportion developed a symptom that was little known up to that point and that is currently exceptional: oculogyric crises; that is, a lateralised, dystonic upward movement of the eyes known as a tonic eye fit. This paper proposes a history of the recognition of this symptom, its inclusion in the neurological nosography, and the pathophysiological hypotheses postulated a century ago.
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