Thiamine (vitamin B-1) deficiency can result in Wernicke's Encephalopathy (WE), a serious neurologic disorder. Dr Carl Wernicke, a Polish neurologist, described it in 1881 as a triad of acute mental confusion, ataxia, and ophthalmoplegia. Korsakoff amnestic syndrome is a late neuropsychiatric manifestation of WE with memory loss and confabulation; sometimes, the condition is referred to as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) or psychosis. (See Clinical.)