Weird History
When the Sleeping Sickness Hit New York In the 1920s
2021 • E134 Nov 12, 2021 12m
Medical science has come a long way in the last hundred years, but that doesn't mean every medical mystery has been solved. The cause of the mysterious sleeping sickness that struck New York in the 1920s, Encephalitis lethargica, remains unsolved to this day.
Originally called "the sleeping sickness" because the first few cases involved active people spontaneously falling asleep, it had a wide variety of symptoms and presentations.
Originally called "the sleeping sickness" because the first few cases involved active people spontaneously falling asleep, it had a wide variety of symptoms and presentations.