Karam physically suffered nothing, but the taxi driver was killed by reacting.
[1] Apparently, since the time of the assault Karam began to manifest symptoms of Machado-Joseph disease, a degenerative syndrome, also known as spinocerebellar ataxia type 3,[2] which compromises motor coordination and control over muscles.
According to his father, Alfredo Karam, who gave statements to the Rio newspaper Extra, he inherited the illness of his mother, who died due to this same genetic anomaly.
[5] The actor died on 7 July 2016, at the Naval Hospital Marcílio Dias,[6] as a result of the Machado-Joseph syndrome.
[7][8][9] His body was buried in Cemitério de São João Batista.