40 Fun Facts About Multiple Sclerosis

Which nerve-fiber coating, stripped away in multiple sclerosis, is what makes the brain's white matter white?

Myelin is rich in fat, which is why it looks white. It lets electrical signals hop along a nerve at speed, so messages slow down or fail where it has been lost.

The 'sclerosis' in multiple sclerosis refers to which marks, left scattered across the brain and spinal cord?

Scars, which doctors call plaques or lesions, form wherever the nerve coating has been attacked. The name is short for multiple cerebro-spinal sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis becomes steadily more common the farther people live from which line on the globe?

The equator is where MS is rarest, and rates climb with distance north or south of it. A few groups break the rule: Sardinians have high rates, while the far-northern Sami have low ones.

Which virus, the usual cause of mono, was tied to a 32-fold higher multiple sclerosis risk in US troops?

Epstein–Barr infects more than nine in ten adults, yet MS is only a rare complication of it. The finding came from records of over 10 million service members, 955 of whom were diagnosed with MS.

Multiple sclerosis, like many autoimmune conditions, is diagnosed almost three times as often in which group?

Women's extra risk is not fixed: the gap between the sexes may have widened over time. In children under 12, girls are only slightly more likely than boys to develop MS.

Which TV drama's president hid his multiple sclerosis from voters, sparking a congressional investigation?

The West Wing let viewers in on Jed Bartlet's secret midway through its first season, but he told the country only in the season two finale. The head of the National MS Society applauded the portrayal.

Which author gave £10 million to found a multiple sclerosis research center in Edinburgh named after her mother?

J. K. Rowling was 15 when her mother, Anne, was diagnosed with MS. Anne died in 1990, while Rowling was writing the first Harry Potter book, and the loss shaped the story.

Lidwina of Schiedam, a possible early case of multiple sclerosis, became disabled after a fall doing what?

Ice skating as a teenager left the Dutch girl with a broken rib, and she grew steadily more disabled until her death in 1433. She is now the patron saint of ice skaters.

Which actress finished the final season of Netflix's Dead to Me after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis?

Christina Applegate announced the diagnosis in August 2021 and credits co-star Linda Cardellini and an adjusted filming schedule for getting her through. She has since stepped away from on-screen roles.

Sativex, a mouth spray licensed in Britain for multiple sclerosis muscle stiffness, is made from which plant?

Cannabis extract became a prescription medicine when the UK licensed Sativex in June 2010 for spasticity caused by MS. Its maker, GW Pharmaceuticals, held a special license to grow the crop.

Low levels of which nutrient, found in oily fish and some mushrooms, are a risk factor for multiple sclerosis?

Vitamin D is mostly made in skin exposed to sunlight, since diet alone rarely supplies enough. Taking supplements after diagnosis, though, has shown no benefit against relapses or disability.

Which scan, used to confirm multiple sclerosis, often shows more than ten new lesions during an attack?

An MRI scan lets doctors see damaged patches in the brain and spinal cord. No single test can prove MS, so the images are weighed alongside symptoms and other test results.

Uhthoff's phenomenon is a temporary flare of multiple sclerosis symptoms triggered by a rise in what?

Body heat from a hot bath, a fever or a workout can briefly bring symptoms back. Wilhelm Uhthoff spotted the effect in 1890, when his patients' eyesight blurred as they exercised.

Lhermitte's sign in multiple sclerosis is an electric-shock feeling set off by bending which body part?

The neck, bent forward, sends a jolt down the back and into the limbs. Doctors also call it the barber chair phenomenon, and Pierre Marie described it three years before Lhermitte himself did.

Which multiple sclerosis symptom affects about 65% of patients, some of whom call it their most disabling?

Fatigue in MS is poorly understood and hard to treat: the drugs tried for it, such as amantadine and modafinil, have shown only small effects.

The 'MS hug' of multiple sclerosis, also called girdling, is a squeezing tightness felt around which area?

The chest, ribs or stomach can feel gripped by a tight band, sometimes making it uncomfortable to breathe. Similar sensations in the hands or feet are likened to wearing tight gloves or boots.

About 85 percent of people with multiple sclerosis start out with which form of the disease?

Relapsing-remitting MS brings unpredictable attacks followed by weeks or even years of relative quiet. In some people it later turns into a form that worsens steadily between attacks.

Which habit roughly doubles the risk of developing multiple sclerosis and is linked to faster worsening?

Smoking tobacco makes people about twice as likely to develop MS. It is also the clearest lifestyle factor known to make the disease worse once it has begun, which is why patients are urged to quit.

At which stage of a woman's life do multiple sclerosis symptoms often ease, with no lasting effect on disability?

Pregnancy tends to calm MS, especially in the third trimester, when many mothers-to-be report fewer symptoms. Overall it does not seem to change how disabled a mother becomes in the long run.

Which French neurologist, a teacher of Sigmund Freud, first set multiple sclerosis apart as a distinct disease?

Jean-Martin Charcot named it sclérose en plaques in 1868 and picked out three telltale signs: flickering eyes, a tremor and halting speech. A lifetime award for MS research now carries his name.

Which class of drug, given in high doses for a few days, is the usual treatment for a multiple sclerosis relapse?

Steroids such as methylprednisolone are usually given for just three to five days, to calm the inflammation behind an attack. Milder attacks may be left to settle with no treatment at all.

The first disease-modifying multiple sclerosis drug, approved in 1993, was a lab-made form of which body protein?

Interferon beta-1b, sold as Betaseron, has to be injected and often brings on flu-like symptoms. That is no accident: the body's own interferons cause much of the misery of real influenza.

Ocrelizumab, the first drug for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, targets which part of the immune system?

B cells carrying a surface marker called CD20 are what the antibody locks onto. Many of the gene variants tied to MS risk are linked to these cells as well.

AHSCT for aggressive multiple sclerosis wipes out the immune system with chemotherapy, then rebuilds it from what?

Stem cells are collected from the patient's own blood beforehand, which lowers the risk of rejection. The aim is to reboot the immune system so that it stops attacking the nerves.

Paolo Zamboni's disputed 'liberation therapy' for multiple sclerosis used balloons or stents to widen what?

Veins draining the brain and spine were, Zamboni proposed in 2008, too narrow in people with MS. A 2013 study found such narrowing equally common in people without the disease.

The EDSS, the standard disability scale for multiple sclerosis, bases its middle scores mainly on which ability?

Walking decides the middle of the scale, which John Kurtzke devised in 1983. A person who cannot walk but has full use of their hands still lands near the severe end.

Which cells, destroyed in multiple sclerosis, each wrap a protective coating around dozens of nerve fibers?

Oligodendrocytes take their name from the Greek for 'cells with a few branches'. Early in the disease they manage to repair some of the damage, but they can never fully rebuild what was lost.

Which metal-based dye is injected before a scan to make active multiple sclerosis lesions stand out?

Gadolinium cannot easily cross the healthy barrier between blood and brain, so it gathers only where inflammation has made that barrier leaky. Older, inactive patches do not light up.

Which actress described life with multiple sclerosis in her memoir Mean Baby and a 2021 documentary?

Selma Blair went public in October 2018 to thank a costume designer who had been helping her dress on set. In 2022 she competed on Dancing with the Stars, leaving in week five as her health worsened.

Which star of an MTV family reality show announced in 2012 that he had multiple sclerosis?

Jack Osbourne, the son in The Osbournes, went public in June 2012. A year later he was competing on Dancing with the Stars, and said he had no severe symptoms beyond odd tingling down one leg.

Which talk show host and retired naval officer set up a multiple sclerosis foundation after his 1999 diagnosis?

Montel Williams was diagnosed four months after a guest spot on Touched by an Angel. He has since called snowboarding his best therapy, though he must think through where his legs are before he stands.

Which stand-up comedian, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, relied on a mobility scooter in later years?

Richard Pryor kept working for years after the diagnosis, and in 1998 he became the first winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. By late 2004 the disease had taken his voice.

Which cellist, famed for Elgar's concerto, was forced off the concert stage by multiple sclerosis in 1973?

Jacqueline du Pré was diagnosed in October 1973, still in her twenties, and withdrew from public performance. She died in 1987 at 42, and the 1998 film Hilary and Jackie retold her story.

Brooklyn law student Sylvia Lawry launched America's multiple sclerosis society with an advert in which newspaper?

The New York Times advert, placed after her brother Bernard fell ill, drew 50 replies from others affected by the disease. Lawry then gathered 20 leading scientists to form the National MS Society.

Augustus d'Este, whose 1822 diary is the first clear record of multiple sclerosis, was a first cousin of which monarch?

Queen Victoria and d'Este were both grandchildren of George III. His diary charted more than 20 years of symptoms, then lay unknown until 1948.

In which region of the world is multiple sclerosis most often diagnosed, at about four times the global rate?

Europe records about 158 cases per 100,000 people, against roughly 4 in Africa. One proposed early case is an Icelandic woman who, around the year 1200, suddenly lost her sight and mobility for a week.

Which diagnostic checklist, first issued in 2001, do neurologists most commonly use to confirm multiple sclerosis?

The McDonald criteria look for damage in different parts of the nervous system that arose at different times. Named after neurologist Ian McDonald, they have been revised repeatedly since.

What name do doctors give a first episode of multiple sclerosis-like symptoms lasting at least a full day?

Clinically isolated syndrome most often brings weakness or numbness, and in about one case in five it strikes the eyes. Starting treatment at this stage lowers the chance of going on to full MS.

Oligoclonal bands, a telltale marker of multiple sclerosis, are looked for in fluid collected by which procedure?

Lumbar puncture, also called a spinal tap, draws fluid from the lower back through a needle. Antibody bands found there but absent from the blood point to long-running inflammation inside the nervous system.

Problems with which organ, affecting 70 to 80 percent of people with multiple sclerosis, can disrupt daily social life?

The bladder may need emptying too often, or without warning, when nerve signals to it are disrupted. Pelvic floor exercises and bladder retraining are among the drug-free treatments.