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Date sent: Thu, 11 May 2000 17:34:41 -0400 Send reply to: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network <[log in to unmask]> From: Ivan M Suzman <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Is PD caused by a VIRUS? To: [log in to unmask] > I keep thinking that the virus theory for PD's cause > makes SO much sense ! Maybe what you have > provided below about the Epstein-Barr virus will help > unravel the mystery. > > If you have to suffer through this, Ray, I hope > you don't go through what some of us who have > been getting worn out have to go through. > Ivan, and others, The virus theory for PD has been looked at (I sent you the figures several months ago), and just about every known virus has been "plugged in" as a cause for PD. None of them (over about 25 years of research) have shown any correlation beyond coincidence. Most people have been infected with the Epstein-Barr virus. I have (and I don't have PD and I am 62 already). The other viruses that have been suggested are present (signs of past infection) in the majority of the healthy population. There is NO EVIDENCE that a virus is a causative factor in PD. The 1918 Influenza Pandemic may be the one exception, and that was because the virus produced an encephalitis which caused Parkinsonian symptoms as a late complication. If someone gets encephalitis (of any type), the basal ganglia can be affected as a late complication, but *this is not Parkinson's disease*! Parkinson's disease is very different from "Parkinsonism" caused by encephalitis or multiple head injuries (as with Mohammad Ali) or drugs, poisons (like carbon monoxide). Please, Ivan do not get people all full of anxiety over the (many) viruses that we are constantly being exposed to. Best, Bob ********************************************** Robert A. Fink, M. D., F.A.C.S., P. C. 2500 Milvia Street Suite 222 Berkeley, California 94704-2636 Telephone: 510-849-2555 FAX: 510-849-2557 WWW: http://www.dovecom.com/rafink/ mailto:[log in to unmask] "Ex Tristitia Virtus" *********************************************