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Encephalitis Lethargica

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Sleep Medicine

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Abstract

The rich dictionary vocabulary of states of arousal, vigilance and tiredness lacks clear parallel in sleep–wake physiology. Von Economo gave the name encephalitis lethargica to a multifaceted illness that spread worldwide between 1917 and 1927. However, lethargy is difficult to define, with undertones of disinclination as well as sleepiness, and a main feature of the acute illness was ocular palsy and later, Parkinsonism rather than definite sleep–wake disturbance. The illness rarely ever leads to true hypersomnia, the narcoleptic syndrome, any primary circadian disturbance or insomnia. Despite this, encephalitis lethargica still poses important questions about the relationship between body and mind, the robotic or free heritage of men and women and the interaction between brain and environment that is central to sleep–wake medicine.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As frequently recounted by Dean to medical students when professor of pathology at Cambridge in the 1950s. I can find no written evidence however.

  2. 2.

    . Perhaps it should be pointed out that James Parkinson did not have paralysis agitans, and that the term Parkinson’s disease was first used by Charcot.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Neurology, The Maudsley Hospital and King’s College Hospital, London, UK

    Prof David Parkes

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  1. Prof David Parkes
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Correspondence to David Parkes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, New Jersey Neuroscience Institute JFK Medical Center, Edison, New Jersey, USA

    Sudhansu Chokroverty

  2. Department of Neurology, Gui de Chauliac Hospital, Montpellier, France

    Michel Billiard

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Parkes, D. (2015). Encephalitis Lethargica. In: Chokroverty, S., Billiard, M. (eds) Sleep Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2089-1_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2089-1_20

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