Parkinsonism

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Parkinsonism describes the common motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease: tremor, rigidity, akinesia or bradykinesia and postural instability.

The differential diagnosis or list of potential causes for this disease includes:

Corticobasal degeneration
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Diffuse Lewy body disease
Drug-induced parkinsonism (e.g. antipsychotics, metoclopramide)
Encephalitis lethargica
Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome
HIV/AIDS can sometimes lead to symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Subclinical nigral degeneration is common in AIDS and would explain the heightened susceptibility to parkinsonism, as this would lead to dopaminergic dysfuntion.
Multiple system atrophy
Progressive supranuclear palsy
Toxicity (due to substances such as manganese and MPTP)
Vascular Parkinsonism
Wilson's disease. Wilson's disease is a genetic disorder in which there is an abnormal accumulation of copper. The excess copper that occurs in Wilson's disease can cause the formation of a copper-dopamine complex, which leads to the oxidation of dopamine to aminochrome.