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From: Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Eric Bohlman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: M.S. Sensitities..
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Date: 19 Nov 90 04:03:51 GMT
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 DB>  That a monsterously convincing number of people who contract the 
 DB> disease
 DB>  live in Temporate or have done B4 the age of 15yrs.  Populations 
 DB> nearer the
 DB>  equator have amazingly few cases of M.S.  I believe we are a long way 
 DB> off
 DB>  finding any cure as there would seem to be to many variables involved 
 DB> with
 DB>  this disease..  But at least we are moving in the right direction...
 DB> 
 DB>  By the way I hope this doesn't convince anyone to migrate as it also 
 DB> seems
 DB>  that people who have lived some of their early lives in these 
 DB> Temporate
 DB>  zones and then Migrate take the same risk level that they initially 
 DB> had
 DB>  with them..

(I think your message editor is inserting hard CRs or something like that  
which results in poor word-wrap when quoting)

I read an interesting hypothesis about this relationship of climate
to MS, which was that people living in hotter climates tended to
get measles earlier in life than people living in more temperate
climates.  Apparently getting measles later in childhood was
associated with a greater risk for MS; one speculation was that
older children were more likely to produce "mistargeted" antibodies
that attacked myelin as well as the measles virus.

I don't know whether this has been pursued further, but now that
measles vaccination is widespread it will be interesting to follow
the rate of MS in those who were vaccinated (if late measles
infection makes one more vulnerable to MS, it should go down.  If,
on the other hand, there's actually something protective about
early measles infection, then the rate might go up, although this
seems less likely).

--
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