Language
Country/Area
No result found
Behind the scenes of madness and insanity: What is 'mad epileptic palsy' and how does it affect the brain?
'Insanity epileptic paralysis', also known as a generalized paralysis of psychosis, is a neuropsychiatric disease caused by late-stage syphilis. This lesion can lead to chronic meningoencephalitis and brain atrophy if syphilis is not treated. According to statistics, about 7% of people infected with syphilis will develop the disease, and the incidence rate is even higher in developing countries due to limited treatment options. The disease primarily affects men and its origins can be traced back to the early 19th century. Initially thought to be a form of madness caused by loose morals or character, it was not until the late 1880s that the medical community discovered its connection with syphilis.
"Untreated, insane epileptic paralysis was inevitably fatal and accounted for 25% of the main diagnoses in public mental hospitals at the time. 』
Signs and symptoms
Symptoms of the disease usually appear between ten and thirty years after infection. Early symptoms include signs of neurasthenia such as fatigue, headaches, insomnia and dizziness. As the disease progresses, the patient's mental state and personality will change. Common symptoms include loss of social inhibitions, gradual impairment of judgement, concentration and short-term memory, and mood swings such as agitation, mania, depression or apathy. Some subtle tics, small speech defects and Argyle Robertson pupils may also be evident.
"As the disease progresses, delusions will gradually emerge. These delusions are often unsystematic and absurd and may include great wealth, eternal life, countless lovers, etc. 』
Diagnostic Methods
The disease can be diagnosed by abnormal pupillary reflexes (Argyle-Robertson pupils) and other neurological changes such as abnormal muscle reflexes, seizures, and memory impairment. The final diagnosis depends on analysis of cerebrospinal fluid and testing for syphilis.
Prognosis
While some patients have documented symptom remission in the early stages, relapses almost invariably occur within a few months to a few years. In addition, patients' symptoms become increasingly complex and severe, eventually leading to complete disability and bedriddenness, and they may die within an average of three to five years due to difficulty in recovery.
Historical Background“Even after treatment, the patient’s condition is often difficult to completely reverse, and many patients remain completely disabled during treatment. 』
Tracing the history of insane epileptic paralysis, the earliest cases appeared in Paris after the Napoleonic Wars. It was first described as a separate disease by Antoine Laurent-Jesus-Belle in 1822. The director of a mental hospital at the time showed in a report in 1877 that this disease accounted for more than 12% of the inpatients in his hospital and caused 2% of the deaths. Initially, the cause was thought to be an inherent flaw in character, and it was not until the 18th century that the medical community began to gradually recognize the link between syphilis and the disease.
『It was not until 1913, when Hideyo Noguchi and others proved that the syphilis spirochete existed in the brains of paralytics, that the cause of the disease was completely clarified. 』
After years of research and the development of treatments, the availability of penicillin in the 1940s made insanity epileptic paralysis a rare condition, and even those who had early symptoms could fully recover after penicillin treatment. Today, the incidence of the disease exists only in developing countries, but even there, the epidemiology has significantly decreased. Think about it, can the advances in modern medicine continue to reduce the impact of such diseases and protect public health?
