Nodding syndrome: 2015 International Conference Report and Gulu Accord

•Update on medical geography and need for case definition revision•New hypotheses for disease etiology: metabolic, toxic, viral•Advances in clinical neurophysiology and effective treatment•Neuropathological description needed to define nodding syndrome•Commitment to collaborate locally, nationally and internationally

Nodding syndrome is a pediatric epileptic encephalopathy of apparent environmental origin that was first described in Tanzania, with recent epidemics in South Sudan and Uganda. Following a brief description of the medical geography, setting and case definition of this progressive brain disorder, we report recent advances relating to etiology, diagnosis and treatment described in papers given at the 2nd International Conference on Nodding Syndrome held in July 2015 in Gulu, Uganda. The target audience for this report includes: anthropologists, entomologists, epileptologists, health care workers, helminthologists, medical researchers, neuroepidemiologists, neurologists, neuroscientists, neuropathologists, nurses, nutritional scientists, primary health care physicians, psychiatrists, public health practitioners, toxicologists, and virologists.