The term chorea comes from the Greek word choreia, which means "to dance." The term aptly describes the fitful, jerking movements associated with the condition. One form of chorea was first described by the English physician, Thomas Sydenham, in 1685, at which time the disorder was known as St. Vitus' Dance. This condition is now called Sydenham's chorea.

A second form of chorea has also been known for centuries, although it was first described in detail only in 1872 by the American physician, George Huntington (1850-1916). Huntington was born and lived in East Hampton, Long Island, a community where chorea was widespread. His father and grandfather, also physicians, had both treated sufferers from chorea for many years. It was well known that the condition had been transmitted from Suffolk, England, to Connecticut in the seventeenth century by way of a single family, known as the Bures family group...