Status
Not open for further replies.
Chamorro people

"Return of the cycad hypothesis - does the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS/PDC) of Guam have new implications for global health?"

Here is a site with some information on the subject.

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16947435



A.
 
Fyi

For your information...


Med Hypotheses. 2006 Aug 4;: 16890380
Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as an infectious disease: A possible role of cyanobacteria?

Giuseppe Stipa , Rosanna Taiuti , Giuseppe de Scisciolo , Graziano Arnetoli , Mario R Tredici , Natascia Biondi , Laura Barsanti , Francesco Lolli

The available epidemiological data for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) support an infectious etiology and lead us to propose a new hypotheses. We examined older epidemiological data concerning categories of the population with increased incidence (aged people, people living in rural areas, farmers, breeders), more recent epidemiological reports regarding Italian soccer players, AIDS patients, people living in highly polluted areas, and reports of cases of conjugal and pregnancy-associated ALS. The toxic and infectious hypotheses lead us to suggest a role for cyanobacteria in the production of endogenous beta-N-methylamino-l-alanine. Infection from a cyanobacterium, or another ubiquitous bacterium having similar characteristics, may be the missing clue to the etiology of ALS. We speculate that ubiquitous bacteria secreting toxic amino acids and "colonizing" tissues and organs in the human body might be the common element linking motor neuron diseases in Guam to sporadic ALS in the rest of the world.

A.
 
Hi mlb

Hi everyone on the thread; I've read all the posts here and find them very interesting; now to my point, do any of you know of anyone handling pesticides sick with ALS; I am blaming pesticides for my husband getting sick, he applied pesticides for twenty three yrs. as a Duster pilot, this was done in Mexico, were pesticides that were not permitted in the States, were used here; although none of the Neurologist who saw him though this had anything to do with ALS.

On Aug. 4th, 1980, on a very hot day more than 120 degrees, around two o'clock in the afternoon, one of the hoses broke he aspired the pesticide lost consciousness and his plane fell down, thank God it didn't get on fire and people working for him on ground took him out from the plane rapidly and was taken to the hospital, at that time he only had a finger and two broken ribs beside the aspiring of the pesticide; his body hurt all over, (COMPREHENSIBLE), the plane was left unusable, (IF YOU COULD SEE A PICTURE, YOU WOULD SAY, HOW DID THIS MAN SURVIVED).

I still think it was his exposure to pesticides that got him sick, since he kept on flying for yrs. after that experience. He started having symptoms on June 2005, was Dx on October same yr. and right now cannot move, still eats but it takes him 90 minutes to do so, wouldn't go for a PEG, we can barely understand what he speaks, he's was an arms onset; by the way he had stopped flying as a duster pilot on 2002 and was opening a Commercial Flying School, when he suddenly started showing weird symptoms, since I had my son's medical books from the Medicine Faculty (he's a doctor). I started looking for a term to apply to the weird movements I was seeing on his back. (Fasciculations and got to the MND, ALS) tests were done, us praying for a different diagnostic, the Neurologist who gave the Dx was one of my son's teachers at the Medicine Faculty.

He could still walk with help on January 2006.

Thank you all for reading such a long post.

Sincerely,



CAN ANY ONE TELL ME IF THEY THINK I AM RIGHT?

I WOULD APPRECIATE IT A LOT.

SINCERELY,

Paty
Baja California, Mexico
 
There is quite a bit of research (for ALS research) being done on environmental toxins. I think myself that it is possible that the pesticides caused your husbands ALS as I am convinced that Firefighting caused mine and another member of my department's.
AL. Check your private messages Paty.
 
Thank you Al

I just checked my private messages, left one for you at that GrampAL 2 thread.

Sincerely,

Paty

I will go now to give my husband his cigarrette, will come back as soon as he finishes, to keep on reading the posts.
 
Pesticides & ALS

Hi Paty,

No one as yet knows what actually causes ALS. However, there are many theories as to the possibilities and amongst others, the exposure to pesticides.

I have copied a paragraph from the website of the ALS Association www.alsa.org/research, wich I am pasting below:

"Exercise or Pesticides
One idea that researchers offer is that soldiers on active duty are engaged in strenuous physical labor. Or, they are exposed to toxins which could play a role in ALS. ALSA is helping to fund an effort by the Veterans Administration to collect information about veterans diagnosed with ALS, to shed light on possible environmental factors associated with the disease. This VA registry will also serve as a stepping stone to clinical trials. Both possibilities, of toxin exposure or the influence of intense exertion, are advanced when researchers consider the finding that Italian soccer players appear to have increased incidence of ALS. It remains unclear whether exercise is indeed a risk factor and what types of exercise may be of concern. Indeed some studies seem to suggest that a degree of exertion may be beneficial in ALS. Other ideas are that pesticides or some other chemical encountered on maintained playing fields might be involved."

My brother who was diagnosed in 2003 does not seem to remember being exposed to chemicals or pesticides - but who knows for sure.

All the best,
Anna
 
Thank you very much for the feedback on PESTICIDES

Thank you Anna, for taking the time to answer my post and for the link; I will go to read it.

Sincerely,

Paty
B.C., Mexico
Husband's Caregiver
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top