Who Discovered Lou Gehrig's Disease?

Lou Gehrig's Disease, also called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is a neurological disease that affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary motor functions. Its cause is unknown, but there is a genetic connection and tendency. Lou Gehrig's Disease usually presents itself in adulthood in the form of muscles weakness, wasting and twitches. As the disease progresses, complete paralysis sets in.

History

• Lou Gehrig's Disease was first discovered in 1869 by a French neurologist. Jean-Martin Charcot was the first to explain the disease.

Names

• The disease was first called Maladie de Charcot, for the man who identified it. It is known and referred to by several different names, including ALS or Motor Neuron Disease.

Significance

• The disease received much attention when the famous baseball player Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS in the 1930s. His passing, at 38 years old, generated awareness about the disease.

Research

• In March 1993, H. Robert Horvitz, Robert H. Brown and Teepe Siddique led a team of 29 scientists researching at 13 centers across North America who successfully identified one of the genes that causes Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Gene Discovery

• In 2004, an international research team led by Phillip Chance, a neurological professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, found a Lou Gehrig gene for a rare form of the disease that affects children. The team noted that this discovery will potentially have more prevalent implications.

Diagnoses

• Roughly 20,000 Americans live with Lou Gehrig's Disease. Close to 5,000 people are diagnosed with the disease each year.