Every year, millions of people worldwide suffer from Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder famous for affecting actor Michael J. Fox, boxer Muhammad Ali, and Pope John Paul II, among others. The disease also strikes a lot of dogs, and veterinarians at an American university are looking for ways to cure it, reports Science Daily, an online magazine.

The veterinarians of the University of Missouri (MU) headed by Dennis O'Brien, director of the comparative neurology program, are investigating the causes and potential treatments for Parkinson's disease in both dogs and humans.

Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the central nervous system which impairs the sufferer's motor skills. Its symptoms include tremors, stiff muscles or movement, and difficulty with balancing and walking. In humans, it is mostly seen in the elderly; in dogs, it is a hereditary disease affecting the young.

The MU team of veterinarians are also studying two other neurological diseases that can be fatal in both dogs and humans: epilepsy, which is characterized by repetitive seizures; and degenerative myelopathy, which affects the spinal cord in adult dogs, eventually paralyzing them.

O'Brien admits that, in the past, there was little that can be done to treat these diseases. “But now we have the tools to do something about it...with pets, we can identify the genes responsible and breed away from some of these problems. We also have the human connection to these diseases, and as we learn from research on both species, we can apply it to both humans and animals and everyone will benefit,” he says.

While research into Parkinson's and other diseases is ongoing, O'Brien and his team are working in the MU Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, a state-of-the-art teaching and medical service facility, to help rehabilitate dogs. Recently, the hospital received an underwater treadmill to aid the therapy of dogs with spinal or nerve injuries and temporary paralysis.