Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:45:20.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Unusual Occurrence of Multiple Sclerosis in a Small Rural Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary:

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Ten patients with multiple sclerosis were found to have lived in close proximity in a Nova Scotia farming community of 150 people. All had drunk unpasteurized milk as children, were teetotallers, ate a high animal fat diet, and were well educated. Of greater interest was the observation that six of the ten cases were related in two family groups.

The only time all patients lived in the community at the same time was in 1951 and 1952 during a polio outbreak. The relationship of polio to multiple sclerosis bears further study.

The average age of the patients when they had measles was 11.8 years. Evidence suggests a link between risk of multiple sclerosis and both late onset of measles and pubertal age. Late onset of measles may be important in this cluster. Further epidemiological studies are needed to examine the age of onset of measles in M.S. cases.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1976

References

REFERENCES

Aita, J.F., Snyder, D.H. andReichl, W. (1974). Myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis: An unusual combination of diseases. Neurology 24: 7275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alter, M. (1975). Is multiple sclerosis an age-dependent host reaction to measles? Abstract to the 4th Panamerican Congress of Neurology, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Campbell, A.M.G., Daniel, P.. Porter, R.J. et al. (1947). Disease of the nervous system occurring among research workers on swayback in lambs. Brain 70: 5058.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, A.M.G., Herdan, G., Tatlow, W.F.T. et al. (1950). Lead in relation to disseminated sclerosis. Brain 73: 5271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deacon, W.E.. Alexander, L.. Siedler, H.D. et al. (1959). Multiple sclerosis in a small New England community. New Engl. J. Med. 261: 10591061.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastman, R., Sheridan, J. and Poskanzer, D.C. (1974). Multiple sclerosis clustering in a small Massachusetts com munity with possible common exposure 23 years before onset. New. Engl. J. Med. 289: 793794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Introductory Nutrition. Edited by Guthrie, H.A. (1975). Saint Louis. The C.V. Mosby Company 3rd éd., pp. 4041.Google Scholar
Haire, M., Fraser, K.B. and Millar, J.H.D. (1973). Measles and other virus-specific immunoglobulins in multiple sclerosis. Br. Med. J. 3: 612615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haire, M.. Millar, J.H.D. and Merrett, J.D. (1974). Measles virus-specific IgG in cerebrospinal fluid in multiple sclerosis. Br. Med. J. 2: 192193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, M.J., Reed, D., Stern, R. et al. (1974). Multiple sclerosis. A cluster in a small northwestern United States community. JAMA 228: 15551557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurtzke, J.F. (1963). On the evaluation of disability in multiple sclerosis. Neurology 11: 686694, 1963.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Multiple Sclerosis. A reappraisal. 2nd ed. Edited by Mcalpine, D. Lumsden, C.E. Acheson, E.D. (1972). Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1972. p. 36.Google Scholar
Morris, P.J. and Pietsch, M.C. (1973). A possible association between paralytic poliomyelitis and multiple sclerosis. Lancet 2: 847848, 1973.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poskanzer, D.C, Schapira, K. and Millar, H. (1963). Multiple sclerosis and poliomyelitis. Lancet 2: 917921.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poskanzer, D.C. (1968). Etiology of Multiple Sclerosis: analogy suggesting infection in early life. Edited by Alter, M. Kurtzke, J.F. Thomas Springfield, C.C. Illinois, Charles C. Thomas Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Palo, J., Wikstrôm, J. and Kivalo, E. (1973). Further studies on the epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Finland. Acta Neurol. Scan. 49: 495501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peart, A.F.W., Lavers, H., Nagler, F.P. et al. (1953). A winter outbreak of poliomyelitis in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. 1952. Can. J. Public Health 44: 400406.Google Scholar
Sutherland, J.M. (1956). Observations on the prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Northern Scotland. Brain 79: 635654.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wikstrôm, J. and Palo, J. (1975). Studies on the clustering of multiple sclerosis in Finalnd I: Comparison between the domiciles and places of birth in selected subpopulations. Acta Neurol. Scand. 51: 8598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wikstrôm, J. (1975). Studies on the clustering of multiple sclerosis in Finland II: Microepidemiology in one high-risk county with special reference to familial cases. Acta Neurol. Scand. 51: 173183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wikstrôm, J. (1975). The epidemiology of multiple sclerosis and tuberculosis in Finland. A study based on mortality statistics. Acta Neurol. Scand. 52: 207215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed