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Encephalitis Lethargica

The Mind and Brain Virus

  • Book
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Paul Bernard Foley

    1. Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia
      Unit for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

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  • A comprehensive history of encephalitis lethargica
  • Provides an accurate picture of the nature and course of the encephalitis lethargica epidemic
  • Features extensive historical and scientific research

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 1-14

  3. 1915–1918: The origins of encephalitis lethargica

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 15-81

  4. 1919–1924: The international epidemic

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 83-184

  5. The nature of acute encephalitis lethargica

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 185-273

  6. When night comes falling: chronic encephalitis lethargica

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 275-405

  7. The psychiatry of encephalitis lethargica

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 407-572

  8. The neuropathology of encephalitis lethargica

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 573-681

  9. What caused encephalitis lethargica?

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 683-780

  10. After the storm

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 781-838

  11. The fading trail of the sleepy wraith

    • Paul Bernard Foley
    Pages 839-855

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 857-1083
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Keywords

About this book

Encephalitis lethargica (‘sleeping sickness’) was a mysterious disorder that swept the world in the decade following the First World War, before disappearing without its cause having been identified. Around 85% of its victims, predominantly children, adolescents and younger adults, survived the acute disorder, but most developed severe neurological syndromes, particularly severe post-encephalitic parkinsonism and other severe motor abnormalities, that incapacitated them for the remainder of their lives. 

Despite its brief history, encephalitis lethargica played a major role in a variety medical discussions between the two World Wars, as this epitome of neuropsychiatric disease – attacking both motor and mental functions – appeared just as the separation of neurology and psychiatry had reached a critical point. Encephalitis lethargica sufferers presented an unprecedented combination of neurologic and psychiatric symptoms – including previously puzzling phenomenaprimarily associated with schizophrenia and hysteria, as well as behavioral changes and attention deficit disorders in children – that not only underscored the unity of mind and movement in the CNS, but also illuminated the critical role played by subcortical structures in consciousness and other higher mental functions that had formerly been associated with the soul and more recently presumed to be localized to the human cerebral cortex. Encephalitis lethargica exerted a greater influence on clinical and theoretic neuroscientific thought between the two World Wars than any other single disorder and had an enduring impact upon neurology and psychiatry. 


This book will be of interest to an educated audience active or interested in clinical (neurology, psychiatry, psychology) or laboratory neuroscience, particularly those interested in neuropsychiatry, as well as to those interested in the history of the biomedical sciences.

Reviews

“A particular strength of this book is its descriptions of the social problem of encephalitis lethargica, especially for children. … What makes this book necessary is the richness of detail in the accounts of the abbreviated lives of the sufferers of encephalitis lethargica and of the researchers and doctors like Felix Stern.” (Michael S. Zandi, Brain, Vol. 142 (9), September, 2019)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia

    Paul Bernard Foley

  • Unit for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Paul Bernard Foley

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Encephalitis Lethargica

  • Book Subtitle: The Mind and Brain Virus

  • Authors: Paul Bernard Foley

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0384-9

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-0383-2Published: 07 February 2018

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-7964-6Published: 07 June 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4939-0384-9Published: 07 February 2018

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXVI, 1083

  • Number of Illustrations: 27 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Virology, Biomedicine general, Human Physiology

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