American research makes Parkinson's disease discovery
16/8/2010
A team of American scientists claims to have discovered new evidence concerning the development of Parkinson's disease.
The researchers believe that the condition may have an infectious or autoimmune origin, according to an article in the Nature Genetics Journal.
More than 2,000 people with Parkinson's disease and the same amount of healthy individuals were assessed by teams in four separate states.
The team tracked the subjects for more than two decades, identifying lifestyle and risk factors which could be responsible for the development of the disease.
Study leader Dr Cyrus Zabetian said: "Over the years, there have been subtle hints that immune function might be linked to Parkinson's disease.
"But now we have much more convincing evidence of this and a better idea of which parts of the immune system might be involved."
Most people who get Parkinson's are aged 50 or over but younger people do develop the disease, as one in 20 who develops the condition is under the age of 40.