Encephalitis Lethargica Epidemic Mystery

Between 1915 and 1926, encephalitis lethargica spread around the world and killed or incapacitated about 500,000 people. The disease attacked the brain and left some victims in a statue-like state, unable to speak or move. Doctors first described it in 1917, but they never pinned down a definitive cause while the epidemic was raging. Then, just as mysteriously as it had arrived, the disease faded away and left one of the strangest medical puzzles of the 20th century.

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