Health officials are baffled as they try to identify the cause and a cure for nodding syndromeFor the first time, researchers and scientists from different parts of the world have arrived at a standard case definition for nodding syndrome, previously known as ‘nodding disease’ or ‘head nodding disease’.  Consensus was reached during the first international scientific meeting held on the disease in Kampala, Uganda, in August 2012.

Nodding syndrome is a devastating illness that affects children between 5 and 15 years old. There is no known cure for the disease and its cause remains unknown. WHO first brought the disease to the attention of the world when it was investigating cases in south Sudan in 2001–2002. Earlier studies and descriptions of the disease from the 1960s onwards had been limited and treated with sceptism among neuroscientists.

Scientists from WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, are now studying possible links between nodding syndrome and onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness.