Antibodies against arboviruses in postencephalitic and idiopathic Parkinson's disease

Serum and CSF from patients with classic von Economo's postencephalitic Parkinson's disease, idiopathic Parkinson's disease and non-Parkinsonian neurological controls were tested for hemagglutination-inhibition antibodies to 17 arboviruses. All 35 CSF specimens from patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and controls were negative (ie, no inhibition of hemagglutination) with all the antigens. Of the total of 124 serums from the three study groups, 105 were also negative with all antigens tested. The only positive results were given by 19 serum specimens against one or more of group B arbovirus antigens, and/or against Batai and western equine encephalomyelitis antigens. There were no definitive differences in the distribution of these positive serum titers among controls, idiopathic Parkinson's, and postencephalitic Parkinson's cases. A causal relationship of the arboviruses tested with either the classical postencephalitic or idiopathic Parkinson's disease is not supported by the results of this study.