Research published last month (October 25) in JAMA Neurology represents the latest evidence for the controversial notion that the onset of Parkinson’s disease can be triggered by a viral infection. But experts tell The Scientist that the viral Parkinson’s hypothesis still lacks convincing evidence.
For the study, researchers analyzed medical records from the Danish National Patient Registry dating between 1977 to 2016 and found a correlation between a Parkinson’s diagnosis and an influenza diagnosis from at least 10 years prior. In total, the scientists included the records of 61,626 people, 10,271 of whom had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. They found that people who were diagnosed with the flu were 73 percent more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s more than a decade later than were people who’d never had a flu diagnosis.
The study is “certainly intriguing,” University of Utah neurobiologist Jason Shepherd tells The Scientist in an email. He ...
