Imagine a world like no other riddled with an illness that keeps getting stronger the more we fight it. Imagine the helplessness one feels when someone they care about is sick and possibly in pain, but they must choose between their own well-being or that sick loved one’s. This past year has brought much grief and torment to every individual around the world. It’s easy to focus on how one’s life has been altered, inconvenienced or even worsened by this pandemic. But what about the people who were already struggling? What of their torment? 

One such group of individuals is those who are suffering from Parkinson’s disease. This disease attacks one of the most important organs of the body- the brain. This disease takes away the autonomy in movement by creating issues in balance, coordination and walking as well as promoting shaking and stiffness (NIA). An individual with Parkinson’s makes the decision to move extremely quickly but has to sit through the painstakingly long process of their muscles catching up to the command. This lack of fluidity results in prolonged tension in the muscles as well as slower movements- sometimes resulting in the individual barely even moving. Many of us have experienced that feeling of a lack of power- a lack of control if you will- throughout this year. This has been due to lockdown after lockdown- which, albeit important and necessary, makes most people feel caged up with no control. When you think of it this way, you can imagine how frustrating it can be to experience that helplessness, not from outside authorities, but from one’s own mind. The number one aspect of the musculoskeletal system is the ability to override simple movements based on one’s whim. For this reason, voluntary movement is an immense luxury that one can easily take for granted. However, it is often these severe situations that remind us all that we have to be thankful for and all we have to lose. 

Specifically speaking, Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that 1 in every 500 Canadians is affected by (UCB Canada Inc. 2021). In fact, we see as many as 6 600 new cases of Parkinson’s disease each year (UCB Canada Inc. 2021). To add to the severity, this illness cannot be attributed to only one factor- instead being a medley of genetics, aging, environmental stressors and more. For this reason typical or common Parkinson’s disease is called idiopathic. To better understand the nature of spontaneity in this disease, you can liken the causes to being part of a scale that can tip in many different directions, rather than one distinct cause. According to NCBI, the genetic factors of this illness stem from about 28 discrete chromosomes (Klein and Westenberger, 2012). However, out of those 28, only 6 have been identified to cause PD from a mutation in only one gene (Klein and Westenberger, 2012). The mutations that cause these chromosomes to stimulate Parkinson’s disease can be heightened by certain genetic risk factors. In fact, though rare, there has been a correlation discovered between hereditary genes and Parkinson’s disease. Nonetheless, as can be seen from the limited amount of regions that can cause monogenic Parkinson’s, this disease is generally the product of several different factors- including aging. 

Due to the wide variety of age groups that can be affected by Parkinson’s, it can be classified in a few ways. Firstly, there’s juvenile or young-onset Parkinson’s disease- which is evident through symptoms showing up in people under the age of 50 years old (Parkinson’s Foundation 2021). Individuals that are affected by Parkinson’s who are older than 50 years- they’re affected by the idiopathic or typical Parkinson’s disease (Parkinson’s Foundation 2021). Therefore, this illness seems to be more prevalent or typical in individuals that fall under the pre-elderly to elderly age group. Many notable individuals such as Mohammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Robin Williams and more had Parkinson’s disease (Parkinson’s Foundation 2021). The devastation left behind by this disease is so strong that Michael J. Fox- a Canadian-American actor- even has a foundation that supports and promotes the search for a cure to Parkinson’s. 

As low as the prevalence rate seems, this disease is clearly an important and significant malady in Canadian life. Thus, it is certainly worth noting how those suffering from Parkinson’s are dealing with the pandemic crisis going around the world today. One of those most important aspects of this current predicament is the fact that there are many specific long-term care facilities for Parkinson’s patients and other individuals suffering from similar diseases. During the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, one of the major hotspots were long-term care facilities. The residents of these facilities were vulnerable, immunocompromised and unprepared for this sudden influx of cases. To understand this better, one can liken a resident home to a biofilm. The close proximity in which the microbial and algal organisms are found in these structures makes it easy for a virus to spread. Having a dense population creates more opportunities for transmission and infection. Now pair this simplicity of transmission with individuals that are already quite aged and have relatively less healthy immune systems. Individuals at these long-term care homes, including Parkinson’s patients, became an easy and early target of this virus- resulting in many deaths. However, it is important to understand that the  presence of a neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s doesn’t make you more susceptible to Coronavirus (Parkinson’s Foundation, 2021). Nonetheless, once you do contract COVID-19, a person with Parkinson’s would have a harder time battling the virus and winning. 

As the virus is still relatively new to humankind, it is hard to have well-established studies that exactly pinpoint the effects of COVID-19 on Parkinson’s disease. Nonetheless, what can be said is that few micro studies have been conducted in the time that we’ve been facing this pandemic. One such case study included 10 patients that contracted COVID-19 while already being diagnosed with Parkinson’s symptoms (APDA 2021). In their analysis, the researchers found that four of those patients died, many Parkinson’s symptoms worsened and most of them required more of the drug that is used to treat Parkinson’s- levodopa (APDA 2021). However, findings from this study cannot be labeled as conclusive because the sample size is too small to be able to be extrapolated to a bigger population. Thus, the external validity of such a study would be too low to reward conclusive results. There have also been studies done that investigate a causal relationship between Parkinson’s disease and Coronavirus. This is because while studying the virus, scientists have also studied its effects in the brain. Many symptoms associated with COVID-19 affect the brain- i.e. headaches, changes in behaviour, confusion and more (Hopkins Medicine 2021). This virus can cause irreparable damage in the brain depending on the severity of the symptoms and the conditions of the contraction. Thus, scientists have found that an individual that already has Parkinson’s disease could experience a sporadic worsening in their symptoms- indicating the contraction of COVID-19 (ADPA 2021). 

It is always interesting and important to understand how the general public is affected by infectious diseases and their uncontrolled transmission. Nonetheless, what is often not considered is that those individuals already experiencing certain diseases cannot be generalized with the average individual. Individuals that are victims of diseases such as Parkinson’s have an altered immune system and health compared to the average individual. Thus, the transmission of additional diseases and their effects on the individual can be vastly different if studied at the immunological level. 

References

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Parkinson’s Disease. National Institute on Aging. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/parkinsons-disease#:~:text=Parkinson’s%20disease%20is%20a%20brain,have%20difficulty%20walking%20and%20talking.

Parkinson’s Disease. UCB. (n.d.). https://www.ucb-canada.ca/en/Patients/Conditions/Parkinson-s-Disease

Young Onset Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s Foundation. (n.d.). https://www.parkinson.org/Understanding-Parkinsons/What-is-Parkinsons/Young-Onset-Parkinsons.

COVID-19 & Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s Foundation. (n.d.). https://www.parkinson.org/understanding-parkinsons/covid-19.

Latest Research on COVID-19 & Parkinson’s disease. APDA. (2021, May 14). https://www.apdaparkinson.org/article/newly-published-studies-on-covid-and-pd/.

How Does Coronavirus Affect the Brain? Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/how-does-coronavirus-affect-the-brain.