Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

[Airclues]

PSP is a very rare neurological disease. There are currently only 4000 people suffering from it in the UK. However, I personally know of three ex-colleagues who have been diagnosed with PSP. Four years ago a very good friend and drinking partner took his own life having been diagnosed with PSP. He spent most of his career flying the 737 and 757/767.

There has been some research suggesting that toxic fumes on aircraft can cause neurological problems;

https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-023-00987-8

Does anyone know of any more crew who have been diagnosed with PSP? Considering the very small number of cases, there would seem to be a disproportionate number of flight crew affected.

[redsnail]

Hi Airclues, long time no see.
I am sorry to read about your pal's demise. He must have been suffering a lot.
No, I haven't heard of any other cases of PSP.
Very interesting paper. Definitely a lot more work needs to be done on who's susceptible and why. There seems to be a case that if you're sensitive to organophosphates, then you're potentially at risk of developing a condition related to organophosphate poisoning.

[Doug E Style]

I hadn’t heard of PSP until my father was diagnosed with it during the pandemic. He had nothing to do with aviation (apart from going on holidays using air travel). His initial deterioration was put down to old age (he was 80 at the time) and was overlooked at the time as more attention was being given to his wife who had dementia and, later, cancer. After her death, his symptoms worsened and he was taken into care. That was three years ago. He can no longer speak, has puréed food and his drinks are thickened to avoid choking. Not much of an existence.