What causes Parkinson's Disease
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Although
there are many theories about the cause of Parkinson's disease, none
has ever been proved. Researchers have reported families with
apparently inherited Parkinson's for more than a century. However,
until recently, the prevailing theory held that one or more
environmental factors caused the disease. Severe Parkinson's-like
symptoms have been described in people who took an illegal drug
contaminated with the chemical MPTP
(1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) and in people who
contracted a particularly severe form of influenza during an epidemic
in the early 1900s. Recent studies of twins and families with
Parkinson's have suggested that some people have an inherited
susceptibility to the disease that may be influenced by environmental
factors. The strong familial inheritance of the chromosome 4 gene is
the first evidence that a gene alteration alone may lead to Parkinson's
disease in some people.
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