M.S. may have link to polio

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33974, 15 October 1975, Page 18

M.S. may have link to polio

New evidence on a possible cause

of multiple sclerosis has been presented to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada.

The evidence is based on a study presented to the college by Dr T. J. 'Murray and published in the British magazine, (“New Scientist.*’ j Dr Murray believes that (measles, and possibly polioj myelitis, may be related to I multiple sclerosis. He based his research on a study made in the county of Colchester, an isolated rural community in Nova Scotia w'hich has a population of 150, 10 of whom had multiple sclerosis. The small population was j relatively immobile, and ! there was a lot of inbreeding, I which Dr Murray considered jto be unrelated to the high • incidence of the disease. “Dr Murray also considered ( such factors as water supply, personal contact, surgical opI erations including tonsillecitomy, trace elements in the soil, allergies, occupation, ‘and childhood diseases. All ■ the patients ate a diet high in animal fat with high cholesI terols, and they drank unI oasteurised milk. All of them were teetotal and only one ! smoked.” Polio, measles All these factors were I shared by the remaining | population and were not considered to have any influence on the cause of the" disease. I “Two of the multiple sclerI osis sufferers moved away !from the county a number of years ago, but have since 'been traced. The only time in the past when all patients hived in the vicinity at the same time was between 1961 land 1962.” i This coincided with a severe outbreak of poliomyelitis jin the area, and Dr Murray considers there is a possiI bility that multiple sclerosis (may be a long-delayed result lof the poliomyelitis infection ! which none of the patients i showed. ; "One other factor which the patients had in common ■ was that they all had had I measles late in childhood, ! about the time of puberty.

“The most likely explanation of the evidence in the area suggests that either measles at around the age of puberty (in both boys and girls) or non-clinical poliomyelitis, or an interaction between the two, may be the ultimate cause of multiple sclerosis,” Dr Murray said.