April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

KARACHI, April 10: The causes of Parkinson’s disease, a chronic neurological condition most often developed in men and women after the age of 50, are still unknown, however, health experts do not rule out the role of genetics and environmental factors as possible causes of this ailment.

These views were expressed at a lecture session organised by the Aga Khan University Hospital in connection with the World Parkinson’s Day.

The day is observed every year on April 11 — the birthday of Dr James Parkinson, the London-based doctor who first identified Parkinson’s as a specific condition in 1817 — to increase awareness about the illness which is now being considered the world’s second most common neuro-degenerative disorder.

Dr Parkinson had first described the disease as ‘shaking palsy’ because of its classic triad of symptoms- resting limb tremor, slowness of movement and rigidity of limbs.

In his lecture, Dr Nadir Ali Syed, consultant neurologist and head of the neurology section at the AKUH said that there was no cure for Parkinson’s disease, but medication and rehabilitation could play a major role in managing the symptoms and the disability associated with the disease.

According to him, Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder; the rate of progression varies from person to person. Most symptoms have to do with motor skills: a person begins to experience a slowness in voluntary movement such as standing up, walking and sitting down; tremors, fine involuntary movements of the hands, legs, jaw and face; stiffness of the arms, legs and trunk; and a poor balance.

Dr Syed said that the disease primarily affected individuals above the age of 60, but recently many cases had been reported among younger people as well.

The chairman of Pakistan Parkinson’s Society, Haroon Basheer, presented a non-medical view of the disease.

Dr Murad Moosa Khan, Dr Nabila Soomro, Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, Arif Ali and Sana Shabbeer, later, held a panel discussion.