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An Old Disease With a New Name

Joseph R. Zunt, MD, MPH

Arch Neurol. 2001;58:122-124.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

INTRODUCTION

Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP), a progressive myelopathy predominantly affecting the lower limbs, is currently synonymous with human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)–associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). At the turn of the 20th century, Drs Henry Strachan and Henry Scott provided the first clinical descriptions of persons with syndromes resembling HAM/TSP. As HTLV-I was not detected until 1980,¹ these historical references likely included persons who did not have HAM/TSP. In the mid-1980s, the association of HTLV-I with the neurologic syndrome HAM/TSP was reported concurrently in patients from the Caribbean islands, Colombia, Japan, and the Seychelles.^{2, 3, 4, 5} Using the original quotations from the seminal articles, this article traces the initial reports of this syndrome, the discovery of the infectious cause, and the development of the clinical definition of the syndrome.

EARLY CLINICAL DESCRIPTIONS

In the 1880s, while working as a senior medical officer in Jamaica, Henry Strachan (1857-1921) examined "many hundreds" . . . [Full Text of this Article]

INFECTIOUS CAUSE AND DEFINITION OF THE CLINICAL SYNDROME

From the Department of Neurology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.

Corresponding author and reprints: Joseph R. Zunt, MD, MPH, Harborview Medical Center, Dept of Neurology, Box 359775, 325 Ninth Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 (e-mail: jzunt@u.washington.edu).