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Comment by Fluorescence | Hacker News Reader

> mentioned being sick in his documentary "Still"

I just saw this and he doesn't say that. He says that he was drinking with Woody Harrelson, had to be helped into his suite by a bodyguard and "I woke with a monster hangover" when he first noticed the auto-animated finger.

> where other crew members also have Parkinsons

Michael J. Fox himself throws some cold water over this to avoid over-extrapolating:

"Believe it or not, from a scientific point of view, that's not significant."[4] Donald Calne, a Vancouver neurologist, said the incidence of Parkinson's in society is about 1 in 300, but that four of the 125 people on the Vancouver set of Leo and Me developed the disease. Calne said, "It could be coincidence. But it's intriguing, it might be something they were exposed to."

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It is briefly mentioned when he is talking about his “workaholism” when he was young and also part of many articles on this phenomena. See the wiki page for sources.

> So what about Fox and the suspected Leo and Me cluster? Did they all breathe in some environmental toxin in the studio? Or did they perhaps pass the disease to each other? One theory, that has been around for years, is that Parkinson's could be caused - or perhaps triggered - by a viral infection, maybe even influenza.

> Dr Donald Calne, of the University of British Columbia Hospital, is treating two of the cast of Leo and Me. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that studies have found there to be an increased risk of clusters among certain workers who operate closely together - principally teachers, medical workers, loggers and miners. They could, the theory goes, be exposed to more viruses than most people, and this might cause them to develop the disease.

> It is briefly mentioned when he is talking about his “workaholism”

You'll have to timestamp or quote it because I don't see it. I have searched the subtitles. No relevant mention of sick, ill, flu, work etc.

Sorry I don’t have time right now. Perhaps I misremembered, but thought he said he would often sleep off illness in the car when the driver would take him to and from gigs when he was a teen. I trust you looked.

He talks about working two jobs but this was during Family Ties & Back to the Future, 6 years before his symptoms. He describes sleeping in the car but no mention of illness. At best it's "can't be good can it?" and "confused about which set I was on" but no mention of sickness. Were this to be a cause, and I don't there is any evidence to suggest it is but I feel the doc wishes to insinuate so, it would be a stress/sleep/overwork type risk factor.

I would note the irony that you bemoan people for not believing something when the evidence you cite isn't there - it suggests more caution is required! From my own reading, that sums up the topic: people are open to viral theories but the proof just isn't there yet so believing it is premature. Parkinson's remains poorly understood in both mechanism and cause. It is said to be "a combination of genetic and environmental factors which might include pesticides and head injury". I imagine post-viral consequences could fit within head-injury type risk factors but we are not at a position to make statements of fact about such things.

Here's two studies. Thanks for the feedback. I choose to bemoan those who deny it completely and will continue to do so. Not those who keep an open mind.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22753266/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2...

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