MS
is the most common central
nervous system disease among young adults in the United States.
According to the MS Association
of America, approximately 400,000 individuals have been diagnosed
with MS in the United States and as many as two and a half million
worldwide, with an estimated 10,000 new cases diagnosed in the
United States annually.
Most people with MS experience their first symptoms and are diagnosed
between the ages of 15 and 50..
Cause and Cure Remain Unknown:
Scientists don't yet know what causes MS and therefore, don't
know how to prevent it or cure it. And for reasons not yet understood,
MS seems to be more common in women and white populations, affecting
two females for every male and two whites for every non-white
person.
Who
can be Diagnosed with MS?
MS is usually diagnosed in young adults
between the ages of 15 and 50, with the peak at 27.5 years of
age. Half of the known cases begin before the age of 30, three-quarters
before age 40. For unknown reasons, the disease
is most frequently found among people in the colder climates,
both north and south of the equator.
Contagious?
Hereditary?
Multiple Sclerosis is not contagious
or hereditary. It's not
a mental illness. It is a disease of the central nervous system
(the brain, spinal cord, and nerves). Nerves have a protective
coating around them called "myelin."
When someone has MS, this protective coating is chipped away exposing
the nerve and preventing messages from the brain to pass along
the nerve pathway in a normal fashion.
Symptoms:
Depending on how damaged the myelin is and in how many places,
a person develops symptoms.
The symptoms can be very mild, moderate, or severe depending on
the scarring in the nerves and the type
of MS a person has.
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©Copyright,
Children's Hope for Understanding Multiple Sclerosis, 2002
