Here's an unusual take on Parkinson's disease from the blog Science of Parkinson's. This is an area I've been looking at since I first read about it in 2018. Once I started digging back in to the history of Tuberculosis, even as recent as my own childhood, it started to make a lot of sense. I also learned of a family with multiple people in the family, including spouses, aunts, uncles, parents and siblings with Alz, PD, NTM and TB. Tuberculosis is called "the great mimicker" because it can show up looking like cancer, Crohn's and many other diseases.
The link above to the Science of Parkinson's really digs deep in to some of the science and research showing potential connections. Interestingly, in one large population study in Korean, the risk of Parkinson's was 14 times higher in people with latent tuberculosis.
At my company, The BioCollective, we have been focusing on better methods for sequencing and identification of Mycobacteria in fecal samples. Current methods of detection on not well suited to the task. I look forward to keeping you up to date on this work. And please share your own stories in the Forum if you find connections to what you read.
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