74 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATEDsomething like “deadening brain inflammation”, but later,
the disease is also known as von Economo disease.
“We are dealing with a type of sleepy sickness,” von
Economo initially writes, before naming the typical
characteristics of the disease: sleepiness, complete apathy,
and subsequently cramps and shaking of the entire body. The
combination of physical and mental symptoms has led him to
believe that the disease originates in the brain, and
examinations of dead victims have confirmed the theory. In
the article, von Economo notes that autopsies have revealed
inflammation of the tissue deep inside the brain that
regulates sleep, etc. – more accurately in the hypothalamus.
Von Economo can only imagine what triggers the sleepy
sickness, but according to his theory, the disorder is caused
by a virus that attacks the brain and which could get out of
control, developing into an epidemic. But apparently,
Constantin von Economo is wrong: Just as suddenly as the
disease appeared, it disappears again – at least for a while.PANIC SPREADS IN LONDON
In 1918 and 1919, the most deadly flu epidemic in world
history, the Spanish flu, rages throughout the world. People
die like flies, and the dead bodies accumulate in mortuaries.
In this nightmare scenario of human misery, von Economo’s
disease is pushed into the background. Doctors have lots of
other things to do than to learn more about new cases in
medical journals, so in 1918, when doctors’ waiting rooms in
the British capital are suddenly invaded by sleepy, feverish,SPECIAL HOMEStook care of boys and girls who survivedthe sleepy sickness, but ended up becoming violent and
unpredictable.KINGS PARK HERITAGE MUSEUM & SHUTTERSTOCK
shaking patients, who speak incoherently, no alarm bells
ring. Doctors estimate that the patients are suffering from
sausage poisoning, but they cannot identify the bacteria
that cause the poisoning, so instead, they name tear gas
and mustard gas the possible culprits – both gases were
common in trench warfare.
However, the majority of the patients were never in
combat, and the English doctors are forced to acknowledge
that the numerous symptoms cannot have been caused by
gases. After a while, they are surprised to learn that the
mysterious disease has already been described by
Constantin von Economo.SICK CHILDREN BEHAVE LIKE WILD BEASTS
Before 1918 turns into 1919, doctors in England record 538
cases of the mysterious sleepy sickness. On the orders of
the Ministry of Health, they are obliged to report all cases,
and it is soon very clear that the disease is completely
unpredictable and that it could be very difficult to make a
correct diagnosis. The symptoms are inconsistent, they
develop and change, and each patient has his own unique
case history, in which mental and physical injury often come
hand in hand. Extreme fatigue and dullness are actually
among the less troublesome symptoms. Some of the sick
people even suffer from insomnia and are hyperactive.
Several patients’s entire bodies shake, and it is impossible
to understand what they say. One of them is a little boy who
behaves like a mad beast: crawling, jerking and strung out,Thousands of the kids who survived the
encephalitis lethargica epidemic in the
1920s developed symptoms that doctors
categorised as misbehaviour and moral
deficiency. Others would probably have
characterized them as
psychopaths. The injuries of the
kids’ brains meant that their
personalities changed
completely. They began
to steal, make trouble,
become violent, or
harm themselves. In
England, a kid tried
to chop his
parents to death
with an axe.
Other cases
include a kid
who cameclose to biting off a friend’s penis, one
who got into the habit of attacking
random women in the street, one who
smeared his faeces on the walls, and a
girl who would set fire to anything.
The kids were fully aware of their
misbehaviour, but unable to act
differently. They said that they felt it as
if they were controlled by an invisible
hand that made them do things against
their will. Several of the kids were so
desperate about their own behaviour
that they asked to be locked up. Many
parents felt unable to take care of their
brain-injured children, sending them to
special institutions. Other brain-injured
boys and girls ended up in prison or
killed themselves by jumping from
roofs, drowning themselves, or sticking
their heads into an oven.Sick kids behaved like psychopaths
HISTORY EPIDEMICS