Acute Onset of Parkinsonism With Reversible Course After H1N1 Vaccination: Insight From a Young Lady

• Published in: The journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. E34 - E35
• Main Authors: Yeh, Chung-Hsin, Lin, Shung-Fen Maggie, Lin, Chun-Yi, Chen, Ching-Yi, Chow, Kuan-Chih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychiatric Association 01.10.2012; American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Amantadine - therapeutic use; Benzothiazoles - therapeutic use; Dopamine; Drug therapy; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Immunization; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - immunology; Influenza Vaccines - adverse effects; Influenza, Human - prevention & control; Parkinsonian Disorders - chemically induced; Parkinsonian Disorders - drug therapy; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0895-0172; 1545-7222
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11110324

To the Editor: Parkinsonian symptoms can be induced by acute encephalitis, syphilis, malaria, poliomyelitis, and sudden carbon monoxide poisoning.1,2 In this report, a 17-year-old girl had Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms after a flu shot. An increasing body of evidence indicates that "viral parkinsonism" or "post-encephalitic parkinsonism" is related to autoimmunity and neuroinflammatory mechanisms.3,4 Although we did not find a causal relationship between the vaccine and the acute severe parkinsonism responses in our patient, our experience sheds some light on the status of neural responses in patients receiving H1N1 vaccination and the medical care for this kind of illness.