Re: MS May Be Sexually Transmitted - Doctor

[Guest guest]

LOL, Kathi! I'm not sure I'm willing to get too excited about this

theory either. It doesn't seem to make much sense.

Re: [ ] MS May Be Sexually Transmitted - Doctor

> OK....I am not a doctor or a scientist...but this

> article has me saying COME ON...GIVE ME A BREAK.....if

> this were true.....then Africa is the continent where

> AIDS started...is that not correct? So ....why is

> there a almost non occurance of MS.....why wouldnt

> there be more occurances of husband and wife having

> it....anyway this doctor must have been smoking

> something.....Kathi in OK

>

> --- a <paula54@...> wrote:

> > MS May Be Sexually Transmitted - Doctor

> > Wed Sep 18, 7:06 PM ET

> >

> >

> > LONDON (Reuters) - Multiple sclerosis, a common

> > disease of the central

> > nervous system, could be sexually transmitted, a

> > British scientist said

> > Thursday.

> >

> >

> > Dr. Hawkes, of London's Institute of

> > Neurology, said his

> > analysis of published data on the illness that

> > affects about a million

> > people worldwide, supports the hypothesis.

> >

> > Experts however criticized his report saying there

> > was no evidence to

> > support it.

> >

> > " I propose that multiple sclerosis (MS) is a

> > sexually transmitted infection

> > acquired principally during adolescence and mainly

> > from infected but not

> > necessarily symptomatic males, " he said in a report

> > in Journal of Neurology,

> > Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

> >

> > Hawkes said it may not be the only cause of the

> > neurological disorder but

> > some people may have an inherited susceptibility to

> > a sexually transmitted

> > infectious agent.

> >

> > But the chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis

> > Society in Britain

> > criticized the report, saying there is no direct

> > evidence for sexual

> > transmission.

> >

> > " We share the view that this is pure speculation

> > based on interpretation of

> > data collected for other reasons, " the society's

> > Mike O'Donovan said in a

> > statement.

> >

> > Alastair Compston, a professor of neurology at

> > Cambridge University,

> > described the report as having little scientific

> > value because it contains

> > no new facts.

> >

> > " The hypothesis falls down quickly and repeatedly in

> > the face of known

> > facts, " he explained.

> >

> > Hawkes said migration studies and data on clusters

> > and epidemics support the

> > hypothesis. He noted that epidemics of MS like those

> > in the Faroe Islands,

> > Iceland, the Orkneys and the Shetlands suggest a

> > rise in MS cases after the

> > arrival of military troops.

> >

> > Higher rates of MS in young, sexually active people

> > and in cultures with

> > more permissive sexual attitudes and drug misusers

> > also support the

> > hypothesis, according to Hawkes.

> >

> > " This theory provides a testable hypothesis which

> > could be addressed by a

> > case-control study of multiple sclerosis patients

> > and their partners, " he

> > added.

> >

> > MS is a progressive disease in which the myelin

> > sheath that protects the

> > brain and spinal cord is damaged or destroyed. The

> > illness, which is most

> > common in colder countries and is rare in Africa and

> > Asia, usually occurs

> > between 20 and 40 years old.