The doctor commented on the death of a Moscow teenager allegedly from "insomnia"

[Mary Wilson]

Врач прокомментировал смерть московского подростка якобы от "бессонницы"

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11:44 01/19/2023 (updated: 12:01 01/19/2023)

MOSCOW, January 19 - RIA Novosti.

Head of the Department of Sleep Medicine at Sechenov University Mikhail Poluektov, commenting on the death of a 16-year-old boy in Moscow from supposedly "fatal familial insomnia", told RIA Novosti that this is an extremely rare disease that cannot be treated in any way, but the death of a teenager is not associated with insomnia, but with the destruction of the vital centers of the brain.

Earlier, a REN TV source said that in Moscow, a 16-year-old boy died from fatal family insomnia.
"With this disease, people die not from insomnia, but from the destruction of vital centers of the brain," said Poluektov. He explained that insomnia is one of the first and most striking symptoms of a general damage to the central nervous system, and then other manifestations are added quite quickly - impaired motor and mental functions. Moreover, the development of the disease occurs very quickly, patients with such a diagnosis live for a maximum of 3 years, and there is no treatment for it, the specialist specified.

https://ria.ru/20230119/bessonnitsa-1845917481.html

[Mary Wilson]

Fatal familial insomnia

Other Names: Familial fatal insomnia; Insomnia familial fatal

Summary

Fatal familial insomnia (FFI) affects the thalamus, the part of the brain that controls the sleep-wake cycle. The most common symptoms are sleep disturbance, psychiatric problems, weight loss, and balance problems. Other symptoms include high blood pressure, excess sweating, and difficulty controlling body temperature. These symptoms tend to get worse over time. Almost all cases of FFI occur due to a specific variant in the PRNP gene and are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. Diagnosis is based on the symptoms, clinical exam, sleep study, and imaging studies. The results of genetic testing can help confirm the diagnosis. ...

Causes

Genetic Disease

Fatal familial insomnia is a genetic disease, which means that it is caused by one or more genes not working correctly.

Disease causing variants in the following gene(s) are known to cause this disease: PRNP ...

https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/6429/fatal-familial-insomnia