Editing General paresis of the insane (section)

==History==
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While retrospective studies have found earlier instances of what may have been the same disorder, the first clearly identified examples of paresis among the insane were described in Paris after the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. General paresis of the insane was first described as a distinct disease in 1822 by [[Antoine Laurent Bayle|Antoine Laurent Jesse Bayle]]. General paresis most often struck people (men far more frequently than women) between 20 and 40 years of age. By 1877, for example, the superintendent of an asylum for men in New York reported that in his institution this disorder accounted for more than 12% of admissions and more than 2% of deaths.

Originally, the cause was believed to be an inherent weakness of character or constitution. While [[Friedrich von Esmarch]] and the psychiatrist {{Ill|Peter Willers Jessen (junior)|de|Peter Willers Jessen (Mediziner)}} had asserted as early as 1857 that [[syphilis]] caused general paresis (progressive Paralyse),<ref>Bangen, Hans: Geschichte der medikamentösen Therapie der Schizophrenie. Berlin 1992, {{ISBN|3-927408-82-4}}</ref> progress toward the general acceptance by the medical community of this idea was only accomplished later by the eminent 19th century syphilographer [[Jean Alfred Fournier]] (1832{{mdash}}1914).  In 1913 all doubt about the syphilitic nature of paresis was finally eliminated when [[Hideyo Noguchi]] and [[J. W. Moore]] demonstrated the syphilitic [[spirochaete]]s in the brains of paretics.

In 1917 [[Julius Wagner-Jauregg]] discovered that [[malaria therapy]] (in this case, medical induction of a fever) involving [[Pyrotherapy|infecting paretic patients]] with [[malaria]] could halt the progression of general paresis. He won a [[Nobel Prize]] for this discovery in 1927. After [[World War II]] the use of [[penicillin]] to treat syphilis made general paresis a rarity: even patients manifesting early symptoms of actual general paresis were capable of full recovery with a course of penicillin.  The disorder is now virtually unknown outside [[developing countries]], and even there the epidemiology is substantially reduced.

'''Some notable cases of general paresis:'''
* General [[Ranald S. Mackenzie]] was retired from the US Army in 1884 for "general paresis of the insane" five years before his death in 1889.
* [[Theo van Gogh (art dealer)|Theo Van Gogh]], brother of painter [[Vincent van Gogh]], died six months after Vincent in 1891 from "dementia parylitica" or what is now called syphilitic paresis.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Voskuil|first=Piet H. A.|date=2009|title=The cause of death of Theo van Gogh (1857-1891)|journal=Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde|volume=153|pages=B362|issn=1876-8784|pmid=20051145}}</ref>
* The Chicago gangster [[Al Capone]] died of syphilitic paresis, having contracted syphilis in a [[brothel]] in 1919, and not having been properly treated for it in time to prevent his later onset of syphilitic paresis.