Case Report: Nakalanga Syndrome Revisited: Long-Term Follow-Up of a Patient Living in Western Uganda, 1994-2018

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 104; no. 3; pp. 902 - 906
• Main Authors: Kaiser, Christoph, Mugisa, Christine, Kisembo, Donozio, Gumisiriza, Nolbert, Colebunders, Robert, Tukesiga, Ephraim, Kipp, Walter, Asaba, George
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Institute of Tropical Medicine 21.12.2020; The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
• Subjects: Adult; Case reports; Developmental disabilities; Epilepsy; Epilepsy, Generalized - diagnosis; Epilepsy, Generalized - drug therapy; Epilepsy, Generalized - epidemiology; Epilepsy, Generalized - pathology; Female; Humans; Neurological disorders; Parasitic diseases; Pathology; Patients; Phenobarbital; Uganda - epidemiology; Uganda
• ISSN: 0002-9637; 1476-1645
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0979

Nakalanga syndrome is a childhood developmental disorder that has been reported from various parts of sub-Saharan Africa with the major sign of retarded growth, regularly combined with physical deformities, impaired mental and pubertal development, and epilepsy. We present a follow-up over a 24-year period of a patient living in the Itwara onchocerciasis focus of western Uganda. We demonstrate the strong similarity of Nakalanga syndrome to the more recently described Nodding syndrome, and we discuss the possible causation of both disorders by onchocerciasis. We suggest that the growing knowledge about the tight interconnections between Nakalanga and nodding syndrome, other forms of epilepsy, and onchocerciasis should be taken into consideration in a revised classification system.