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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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:358295 2023-05-15T16:10:55+02:00 Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection. Kurtzke, J F 1993-10 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC358295 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8269393 en eng http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC358295 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8269393 Research Article Text 1993 ftpubmed 2013-08-29T21:19:06Z 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. Text Faroe Islands Faroes PubMed Central (PMC) Faroe Islands |
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Research Article Kurtzke, J F Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection. |
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Research Article |
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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 |
Text |
author |
Kurtzke, J F |
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. |
publishDate |
1993 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC358295 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8269393 |
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Faroe Islands |
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Faroe Islands |
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Faroe Islands Faroes |
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Faroe Islands Faroes |
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC358295 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8269393 |
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