IUBio

Parkinson's Disease

Ida & Andre i-a.kamphuis at wxs.nl
Wed Feb 2 19:19:01 EST 2000


On Fri, 14 Jan 2000 12:52:16 GMT, "Nick De Smet"
<nick.desmet at advalvas.be> wrote:

>Several members of my family have been the victime of the parkinson's
>disease.
>I would like to know if there's any way to determine whether I can or can
>not get this disease? ( By scanning? bloodtest? ...)
>
>Thank you for your help?
>
>nick.desmet at advalvas.be
>
>
Rick

The extent that  genes determine whether a person runs a great risk of

Parkinsons diseaese has long been obscure. The last decade a few genes
are  found who run in certain families. Each member of thoses families
can have a gene test. I don't know whether having such a gene  means
getting the disease or only running a risk.
Besides Parkinson is a disease that is among old people very frequent.
So if your family members with Parkinson are or were old, it is more
probable that  their disease is not caused by their genes. If
environmental causes are important  it can happen that different
family members have been exposed to the same environmental factor
The outcome of much epidemiological research has untill today resulted
in the consistent conclusions that living in the countryside  is a
risk factor as is being of caucasian race and smoking protects against
parkinson. 
Recently researchers have assessed that it is really nicotine that
protects the dopamine producing cells against dying.
I am myself suffering from parkinson and had contacts with many of
them . In my experience  only a few young onset patients had it in
their families.
I hope I did not heighten your anxiety. If you want more info please
ask
Ida




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