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Gerald Connolly asked for information on viruses and PD. The study below seems to relate PD to Whooping cough epidemics but the results and conclusions are not too clear to me. Does it mean exposure to whooping cough in the first year of life could cause PD? Can anyone put it into laymans language please?? Int J Epidemiol 1996 Dec;25(6):1301-1311 Whooping cough and Parkinson's disease. The Europarkinson Preparatory Activity Research Group. de Pedro-Cuesta J, Gudmundsson G, Abraira V, Gudmundsson G, Love A, Tulinius H, Veiga J, Almazan J, Petersen IJ Department of Applied Epidemiology, National Care for Epidemiology, Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain. BACKGROUND: We reported high levodopa use and prevalences of Parkinson's Disease (PD) in periodically, time-clustered, icelandic cohorts born after major whooping cough epidemics (MWCE). METHODS: In order to quantify a possible relationship between age at first post-birth MWCE and risk of PD we: 1) calculated cumulative incidences of PD during the period 1954-1963 in one-year Icelandic cohorts born between 1869 and 1927, using raw material from a reported survey; 2) identified MWCE from 1869 onwards in Iceland; 3) estimated cohort ages at onset of incidence period and at first MWCE; and 4) combined the above-mentioned information using log-linear models. In addition, we studied the prevalence of levodopa users in Icelandic birth cohorts during a recent period. RESULTS: The curves of the above-mentioned incidences and prevalences in one-year birth-cohorts showed: 1) a similar, age-related, inverted V profile; and 2) a systematic notchy pattern, with peak values for one or both measurements for cohorts born during or after each of nine MWCE identified during the period 1869-1927. When 13 cohorts born in years with MWCE were excluded from the analysis, the risk of PD rose with age at first defined MWCE, with the linear increase being 8.4% per year (95% CI: -0.1-18.3%). CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with reported effects of age at exposure in animal models of toxic parkinsonism, age-related changes in the dopamine receptor-GPT-binding protein-adenylatecyclase system observed in rats treated with pertussis toxin, and some PD epidemiological features. They suggest that pertussis neurotoxicity could be casually treated to PD worldwide. PMID: 9027539, UI: 97179253