AApril 11th is World Parkinson’s Day. Between seven and ten million people are affected worldwide, making it the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. In Germany alone, 400,000 people live with Parkinson’s.
What is the meaning of the date?
World Parkinson’s Day has been held annually since 1997 and was introduced on the initiative of the European Parkinson’s Disease Organization and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The date for the day of action is the birthday of the English doctor James Parkinson. He described the symptoms of the disease for the first time in 1817, at that time still under the name “shaking paralysis”.
How is Parkinson’s manifested?
Parkinson’s occurs primarily after the age of 60, but younger people can also be affected. The most common and well-known symptoms are tremors in the limbs and a general lack of mobility.
According to the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, other symptoms include muscle stiffness and a disturbance of the sense of balance.
These symptoms are triggered when nerve cells in the brain that release the neurotransmitter dopamine die off. The neurotransmitter is needed to start and precisely coordinate movements. Parkinson’s is currently not curable.
The motto for World Parkinson’s Day
The motto for this year’s action day is “The Spark” (German: der Funke) – inspired by the neurotransmitter dopamine. A hashtag of the same name was launched on Twitter.
A digital information day was held in Germany on March 29th to mark World Parkinson’s Day: Doctors discussed the extent to which nutrition affects the disease.