Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection
The worldwide distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) can be described within three zones of frequency: high, medium, and low. The disease has a predilection for white races and for women. Migration studies show that changing residence changes MS risk. Studies of persons moving from high- to low-ris...
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American Society for Microbiology
1993
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crasmicro:10.1128/cmr.6.4.382 2024-09-15T18:05:41+00:00 Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection Kurtzke, J F 1993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/cmr.6.4.382 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/CMR.6.4.382 en eng American Society for Microbiology https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license Clinical Microbiology Reviews volume 6, issue 4, page 382-427 ISSN 0893-8512 1098-6618 journal-article 1993 crasmicro https://doi.org/10.1128/cmr.6.4.382 2024-08-26T04:06:51Z The worldwide distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) can be described within three zones of frequency: high, medium, and low. The disease has a predilection for white races and for women. Migration studies show that changing residence changes MS risk. Studies of persons moving from high- to low-risk areas indicate that in the high-risk areas, MS is acquired by about age 15. Moves from low- to high-risk areas suggest that susceptibility is limited to persons between about ages 11 and 45. MS on the Faroe Islands has occurred as four successive epidemics beginning in 1943. The disease appears to have been introduced by British troops who occupied the islands for 5 years from 1940, and it has remained geographically localized within the Faroes for half a century. What was introduced must have been an infection, called the primary MS affection (PMSA), that was spread to and from successive cohorts of Faroese. In this concept, PMSA is a single widespread systemic infectious disease (perhaps asymptomatic) that only seldom leads to clinical neurologic MS. PMSA is also characterized by a need for prolonged exposure, limited age of susceptibility, and prolonged incubation. I believe that clinical MS is the rare late outcome of a specific, but unknown, infectious disease of adolescence and young adulthood and that this infection could well be caused by a thus-far-unidentified (retro)virus. Article in Journal/Newspaper Faroe Islands Faroes ASM Journals (American Society for Microbiology) Clinical Microbiology Reviews 6 4 382 427 |
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The worldwide distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) can be described within three zones of frequency: high, medium, and low. The disease has a predilection for white races and for women. Migration studies show that changing residence changes MS risk. Studies of persons moving from high- to low-risk areas indicate that in the high-risk areas, MS is acquired by about age 15. Moves from low- to high-risk areas suggest that susceptibility is limited to persons between about ages 11 and 45. MS on the Faroe Islands has occurred as four successive epidemics beginning in 1943. The disease appears to have been introduced by British troops who occupied the islands for 5 years from 1940, and it has remained geographically localized within the Faroes for half a century. What was introduced must have been an infection, called the primary MS affection (PMSA), that was spread to and from successive cohorts of Faroese. In this concept, PMSA is a single widespread systemic infectious disease (perhaps asymptomatic) that only seldom leads to clinical neurologic MS. PMSA is also characterized by a need for prolonged exposure, limited age of susceptibility, and prolonged incubation. I believe that clinical MS is the rare late outcome of a specific, but unknown, infectious disease of adolescence and young adulthood and that this infection could well be caused by a thus-far-unidentified (retro)virus. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kurtzke, J F |
spellingShingle |
Kurtzke, J F Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
author_facet |
Kurtzke, J F |
author_sort |
Kurtzke, J F |
title |
Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
title_short |
Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
title_full |
Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
title_fullStr |
Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
title_full_unstemmed |
Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
title_sort |
epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection |
publisher |
American Society for Microbiology |
publishDate |
1993 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/cmr.6.4.382 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/CMR.6.4.382 |
genre |
Faroe Islands Faroes |
genre_facet |
Faroe Islands Faroes |
op_source |
Clinical Microbiology Reviews volume 6, issue 4, page 382-427 ISSN 0893-8512 1098-6618 |
op_rights |
https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1128/cmr.6.4.382 |
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Clinical Microbiology Reviews |
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6 |
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4 |
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382 |
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427 |
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