This website was created to provde information on causes, symptoms and treatments for Parkinson's Disease

General background and history

Parkinson’s disease, commonly referred to as idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD), is primarily a disorder of the basal ganglia and is identified as most of the most common neurodegenerative diseases affecting around 1% of the population over the age of 60. The disease is named after the English doctor James Parkinson who first described the disease in 1817. There are two main pathological characteristics of Parkinson’s disease include loss of pigmented substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons and also the presence of Lewy bodies. Despite its relatively high prevalence in the population most cases of Parkinson disease are idiopathic and believed to be due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

The disease has effected a number of influential figures including the actor Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali. The Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson's research has strived to find a cure for the disease since 2000

Image courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_J_Fox_1988-cropped1.jpg