MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple Sclerosis

[John Ray]

[Medical Terminology-HLHS 101]

[Susan Fraser]

[November9, 2010]

Multiple Sclerosis

Introduction

This report is based on the most common disease of the central nervous system (CNS) Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The report will cover what is meant by Multiple sclerosis, the different type who mostly develops MS. The report will also discuss what actually causes this disease and the signs and symptoms involved.

What is meant by Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which a protein component of sheath is attacked. In a normal person the immune system spots and attacks threats to the human body like viruses or harmful bacteria. In MS the immune system sees myelin as one of these threats, the body's immune system cannot tell between virus proteins and its own myelin so then it starts an attack against itself. The disease attacks various parts of the CNS, including the spinal cord, brainstem, cerebellum, cerebrum and the optic nerves.. Not all the nerves are affected by MS. Some such as the nerves employed the heart and lungs are not exactly affected. There isn't a cure, but injections of interferon and oral doses of bovine myelin sometimes help to give respite to MS victims(Tataru 2006).

Myelin, a fatty sheath insulating the nerves, is impaired and lost this method is renowned as demyelination. Myelin endows nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain; the decrease of myelin disrupts and slows down down the normal glossy employed of the nerves. This disturbance causes symptoms of MS. Svehicles develop, this method is called sclerosis, at the sites where the myelin is lost. The scars are renowned as plaques or lesions. The infection has been granted the title Multiple Sclerosis, this means “many scars”. MS was originally entitled Disseminated Sclerosis because the sclerosis was dispersed in the CNS.

Who usually gets MS?

It has been stated that people are usually diagnosed with MS between the ages of 20 and 50. MS can occur out-of-doors this age. Multiple Sclerosis hits more Caucasians and women and the onset is often during early adulthood. The disease is also common in white people than in black or Asian people(Kurtzke, 2003).

Diagnosis

Diagnosis requires evidence of two or more neurologic attacks. With treatment, about 70% of patients lead active, productive lives with prolonged remissions.

The exact cause of MS is still unknown. There is speculation of it being an autoimmune response to a slow acting or latent viral infection. There is also reason to consider environmental or even genetic factors. Multiple Sclerosis follows a pattern of destruction slightly similar in nature, although much more devastating, to Fibromyalgia, Rhuematoid arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. Early symptoms can be mild appearing as other ailments and, therefore, years may elapse between onset and diagnosis(Miller, 2007)..

In MS, axon demylination and nerve fiber loss occurs in patches throughout the central nervous system. This causes a wide spread and chronic dysfunction involving impulse transmission. For example, symptoms range from sensory-perceptual deficits to fatigue weakness, tremors, ataxia, dysphagia, slurred speech, incontinence and involuntary evacuation of the bowels. These are only ...