World Parkinson's Disease Day

World Parkinson's Disease Day is celebrated on the 11th of April of every year to raise awareness of to support people affected with Parkinson's disease and to educate the community of its causes, symptoms and the medical/surgical treatment methods available. It is a common disease among the elderly. The symptoms start showing between the ages of 40 - 60. Parkinson's disease strikes between 12 to 20 people in 100,000 each year all over the world.

What is Parkinson’s disease?
Parkinson’s disease is an illness, which affects the brain, in which certain nerve cells, which play an important role in motor functions of the body, are lost or die. The loss of nerve cells takes place slowly over time and gradually spreads to several areas of the brain, as a result, new symptoms gradually develop over time and the initial symptoms become more difficult to control.

James Parkinson
James Parkinson FGS (11 April 1755 – 21 December 1824) was an English apothecary surgeon, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist. He is most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy in which he was the first to describe 'paralysis agitans', a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson's disease by Jean-Martin Charcot.