On the occasion of World Multiple Sclerosis Day, which takes place this Saturday, May 30, 2020, we take stock of this little-known disease.
1 – Multiple sclerosis affects only the elderly
FALSE. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is not a disease of old age at all since the first symptoms appear on average at the age of 30. In France, around 80,000 people suffer from multiple sclerosis, i.e. around 1 in 1,000 people.
On the same subject
Never Ending Story: an Instagram story to understand multiple sclerosis
According to Inserm, this autoimmune pathology (which occurs when the immune system begins to attack the cells responsible for synthesizing myelin, this “protective sheath” of the central nervous system) affects 3 women for 1 man.
2 – Multiple sclerosis prevents you from living a normal life
FALSE. If multiple sclerosis is indeed the first cause of severe non-traumatic disability in people in their thirties, the pathology does not (fortunately) progress systematically towards a permanent disability. Thus, according to experts, in 30% of patients, MS adopts a mild form which causes only a weak handicap (or no) even after 20 years of evolution.
Symptoms of MS vary from patient to patient and depend on the area of the brain (or spinal cord) affected by the lesions. In particular, we can observe: visual symptoms (double vision, reduced visual acuity, etc.), balance disturbances (dizziness, etc.), motor disturbances (muscle weakness: in 50% of cases, walking is difficult or impossible after 20 years of illness), urinary or sexual disorders, etc.
3 – Vaccines are responsible for multiple sclerosis
FALSE. Contrary to a stubborn misconception, the hepatitis B vaccine and the HPV vaccine are not responsible for multiple sclerosis. For the hepatitis B vaccine, numerous studies were carried out between 1996 and 2004, including at Inserm: almost all of them concluded that there was no association between the HBV vaccine and multiple sclerosis.
For the papillomavirus vaccine, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) conducted a study in 2015 on 2 million young girls: result, the hospitalization rate for autoimmune diseases ( like MS) is the same in vaccinated and unvaccinated girls.
The causes of MS are not currently known. If we know that multiple sclerosis is not an inherited pathology, experts believe that there is a genetic vulnerability in some people – 29 genes are thus implicated in the disease. Other hypotheses are however being studied: multiple sclerosis could thus be linked to the climate or to a bacterial infection. Research is progressing!
Read also :
Multiple sclerosis: the benefits of cocoa
Multiple sclerosis: the first signs 5 years before the disease
New treatments for multiple sclerosis
Subscribe to the Top Santé Newsletter and receive your light and delicious recipes booklet for free
Bonjourdakar
The article 3 misconceptions (to forget) on multiple sclerosis appeared first on Snap221.info.
– .
