What is multiple sclerosis?
Multiple sclerosis is believed to have been discovered over many centuries ago. Since then questions have been raised but it is only now that they are actually answered.
After numerous research and many series of studies have been done with regards to multiple sclerosis, it has been found out that multiple sclerosis is one of the diseases affecting the nervous system that are usually experienced by the people.
More about its etiology
This disease affects people belonging to all ages from all walks of life, with a preference towards young individuals. According to statistical research, the women are the most common carriers of this disease, especially to those who reside in the northern parts of the globe.
It has been found out due to research that multiple sclerosis has a genetic susceptibility. However, it is not directly inherited.
Moreover, since this disease predominantly affects the nervous system, neurological symptoms are being manifested. Such symptoms include paralysis, walking problems, loss of vision and numbness. These symptoms are often diverse, extremely confusing and patternless. This makes it even more difficult for a definite diagnosis.
These symptoms occur because of abnormalities in the nervous system due to the inability to transmit or the incorrect transmission of signals. A fatty substance that surrounds and acts as an insulator for the nerve fibers is called myelin. It is the myelin that the nerves need in order to correctly conduct the necessary amount of electricity for the body’s normal functioning. However, in multiple sclerosis, the myelin is damaged.
As an autoimmune disease, the body’s own cells and proteins attack its own kind, failing to recognize it as self. The immune system naturally attacks foreign bodies, but since multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder, the body’s very own cells attack its own healthy cells and tissues.
Its early years
Back in the 19th century, people would only listen and believe to hearsay, superstition and the wisdom of the elderly or those who normally take care of whoever was sick. Medications were never tested, and physicians mainly depended on their observing skills for a definite diagnosis. However, upon looking at their journals, it could be derived that they were indeed correct in diagnosing such cases as multiple sclerosis because the information written certainly leads to such disease.
In the 19th century, specifically 1838, there were already drawings of patients who had multiple sclerosis. Although the physicians back then did not have a full understanding of multiple sclerosis and what the disease could lead to, the drawings clearly indicate and who what is today known as multiple sclerosis.
Its detailed discovery
It was a professor named Jean-Martin Charcot who discovered all about multiple sclerosis. It was 1868 and he was a professor of neurology specifically at the University of Paris during the time. He has been given the tag “father of neurology
because of his many contributions to the world of neurology.
It has been recorded that Professor Charcot got to observe a woman who had tremors which were very new to him. Aside from the tremors, he also saw other neurological symptoms such as abnormal movements of the eyes and blurring of vision. Since the medicine back then was far from being advanced, his patient died. During the autopsy, he found out that her brain had plaques or scars that doctors now know are characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
What is it?
Multiple sclerosis, or otherwise known as MS, is actually a disease that affects the nerves of the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. In MS, the central nervous system starts to degenerate.
Myelin, which is the protection and insulation for the underlying nerves, is damaged in MS. Since it is responsible for the correct transmission of messages and conduction of impulses that goes along the nerves, any form of damage to it will render the nervous system useless as it may no longer have any control over the entire body. The inflammation associated with MS cause the disappearance of the myelin, leaving the nerve fibers open and completely unprotected.
It is a sad consequence that the electrical impulses being sent along the nerves begin to decelerate and then become very slow. More nerves are damaged because of this condition and the body’s normal functioning are interfered. Normal functions controlled by the body’s nervous system like walking; memory, vision, speech and writing are greatly interfered.
Its distribution in the USA
According to statistical findings, there are more than three hundred fifty thousand people, who live in the United States of American alone, have multiple sclerosis.
Multiple sclerosis, up to now, is still an idiopathic disease which means its definite cause still remains unknown. For the last two decades, scientists and researchers have done their best in finding more about the disorders that are associated with the immune system. Moreover, many findings have indicated that multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease.
The immune system acts against its own.
The body’s immune system acts as the body’s defender against foreign and harmful substances. If there is any aggressor in the midst, the immune system acts right away, identifying the enemy and attacking the invader until the invader is either dead or weak. This whole response is greatly dependent on the proper communication between the immune cells and the production of new cells for the fight against the foreign substance.
After the myelin is damaged, some of it can be repaired as most disappear once the nerves are stripped of their myelin covering. Scarring results and particles are deposited right into the scars formed. Eventually, the forming of scars will lead to the formation of plaques.
Genetics
The role of genetics is not very clear with regards to multiple sclerosis. But still, reports have determined that Eskimos, European gypsies and the African Bantus do not develop multiple sclerosis. On the other hand, the Japanese, Asians and the Native Indians of both North and South America experience multiple sclerosis but with a low incidence.
The possibility of the general population to develop MS is only one percent. However, for those who have family members, who had the disease before, or at present, increase the chance, especially if it is a first-degree relative.
A first-degree family member such as parent, sister or brother also has a one to three percent of actually having the debilitating disorder. But with twins, things become more difficult. An identical twin has a thirty percent chance of having the disease, where as the nonidentical twin gets only four percent.
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