Nakalanga Syndrome: Clinical Characteristics, Potential Causes, and Its Relationship with Recently Described Nodding Syndrome

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Date
2017Author
FoÈger, Kathrin
Gora-Stahlberg, Gina
Sejvar, James
Ovuga, Emilio
ilek-Aall, Louise J
Schmutzhard, Erich
Kaiser, Christoph
Winkler, Andrea S.
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Nakalanga syndrome is a condition that was described in Uganda and various other African
countries decades ago. Its features include growth retardation, physical deformities, endocrine
dysfunction, mental impairment, and epilepsy, amongst others. Its cause remains
obscure. Nodding syndrome is a neurological disorder with some features in common with
Nakalanga syndrome, which has been described mainly in Uganda, South Sudan, and Tanzania.
It has been considered an encephalopathy affecting children who, besides head nodding
attacks, can also present with stunted growth, delayed puberty, and mental impairment,
amongst other symptoms. Despite active research over the last years on the pathogenesis of
Nodding syndrome, to date, no convincing single cause of Nodding syndrome has been
reported. In this review, by means of a thorough literature search, we compare features of
both disorders. We conclude that Nakalanga and Nodding syndromes are closely related and
may represent the same condition. Our findings may provide new directions in research on
the cause underlying this neurological disorder.
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