Azorean Disease of the Nervous System

To the Editor: Romanul et al. (296:1505–1508, 1977) described another family descendant from immigrants from the island of São Miguel and afflicted with a genetic progressive neurologic disorder. They compared their findings to those previously reported in three families of similar ancestry, with the thesis that all these families represent a single genetic entity with variable expression.^{1 2 3} In June, 1977, I conducted a field trip throughout the Azores Islands to determine the epidemiologic status of the form of Joseph's disease that we described in August, 1976,³ and to investigate any variability in its clinical expression. I examined the Machado.