====== Encephalitis lethargica ======

//Encephalitis lethargica// (also known as 'Sleepy Sickness') is a degenerative brain disease first described in 1917.

(NOTE: It should not be confused with '//Sleeping// Sickness', which is caused by a parasite.)

The disease attacks the brain, leaving some victims in a statue-like condition, speechless and motionless. Conscious and aware – yet not fully awake.

There was a major global outbreak between 1915 and 1926 affecting around five million people, a third of whom died in the acute stages.

Isolated cases still occur.

>__The causes of encephalitis lethargica are uncertain.__ Some studies have explored its origins in an autoimmune response, and, separately or in relation to an immune response, links to pathologies of infectious disease — viral and bacterial. 
>
>//Source ://[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis_lethargica#Cause|Wikipedia]]