February 10, 2020 today and officially this is International Epilepsy Day. According to the Italian Society of Neurology (SIN), neurological disease is among the most common: the World Health Organization (WHO) has included it among social diseases. It affects about 50 million people in the world, in industrialized countries 1 in 100. In Europe there are six million affected and in Italy about 500 thousand.

Epilepsy can strike at any age: in the early years of life and at an older age. Crises can occur suddenly, anywhere, anytime. And they can cause loss of consciousness and subsequent traumatic decline, even serious injury. If crises cannot be controlled, there can be severe restrictions on daily life. The psychological burden can be a heavy burden to bear.

Prof. Giancarlo Di Gennaro, Director of the Center for Epilepsy Surgery explains: "Scientific progress in recent years has led to numerous discoveries in the field of genetics and basic sciences, with significant steps forward to understand the molecular mechanisms that generate epileptic seizures as well as leading in a rich set of effective antepileptic drugs, with increasingly innovative mechanisms of action and overall better tolerability. "

Epilepsy needs a lot of studies. Research needs more funding. And the whole world needs more socio-health policies in favor of patients to allow them access to treatments and to improve diagnostic and therapeutic standards.