Strange disease of an Italian family

In Italy there is a family of more than 200 years of continuous deaths. Local people are rumored to be obsessed with a curse, but for scientists, they are miserable victims of a rare insomnia.

Strange deaths of the famous Giacomo family in Italy

In 1791, Giacomo was born into a middle-class family in a small town near Venice. Like the brothers and sisters in the house, Giacomo grew up healthy and full of life. He married a woman who was also healthy and gave birth to wonderful children. But when he was 45, Giacomo suddenly had a mysterious disease . For months, he could not sleep, even for a few minutes. Although cured through all the famous physicians, the disease did not get better. After a while, he lost his memory and died in a state of complete exhaustion due to insomnia.

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)

For more than two centuries, Giacomo's descendant became a large family. They are all healthy, beautiful and rich people. Many people have become famous politicians and merchants. But the strange thing is that every generation has mysterious deaths in middle age . Causes recorded in genealogies are many, from meningitis, epilepsy to dementia. But the source of all is just insomnia.

The disease happened unexpectedly. Patients are people in their 40s and 50s and before they are completely healthy. Then one day, they could not take a nap, even though they tried all the ways. Blood pressure increases, the body is tired and weakens. Then there is hallucination, dementia, or worse still awake but full body paralysis, then sink into coma and die. In the 20th century alone, 30 of Giacomo's descendants died so painfully. Locals rumor that this family is obsessed with a curse . Therefore, even though they are a prestigious, educated and wealthy family, many people cannot marry. They are also denied access to life insurance because no company dares to accept the risk of accepting customers who may at any time be questioned by death.

The unhappiness of 30 families

It was not until 1986 that these strange deaths were clarified. It is an extremely rare disease called fatal genetic insomnia (FFI) . This is an inherited disease, currently only found in about 30 families around the world. If one of the parents is ill, the child has a 50% genetic capacity. The reason is that double mutations occur in PrP protein . Until now, no treatment for FFI and people with this disease will surely die. The only hope is gene therapy, but since this is a rare disease, the number of people is not so high, so many researchers do not mind seeking treatment. Therefore, the hope of people with the disease is extremely small.

Among the descendants of Giacomo who are still alive, at least 25 people are carrying the disease-causing gene. That means 25 people will inevitably die in middle age. And the misfortune is, they know what is waiting for them, but there is no way to avoid it.