Multiple sclerosis link with pets?

Press, 24 August 1977, Page 9

Multiple sclerosis link with pets?

NZPA-Reuter Chicago A New Jersey physician has reported additional evi-‘ dence for a suspected ’.ink between the incurable crippling disease multiple sclerosis and contact with small house-pets. In a letter to the journal of the American Medical Association, Dr Seymour Jotkowitz said that his study of 50 multiple sclerosis patients showed that 46. or 92 per cent, had had close contact with a housepet, usually within five or 10 years of the onset of the disease.

The findings parallelled those of a British team which, he said, first suggested the connection. "It may very well be that their discovery is of monumental importance, analogous to the discovery of the link between cigarette smoking and cancer,” he wrote.

He said the incidence of the disease in those who had had contact with sick dogs was unusually high, and that several patients reported them dogs were diagnosed as having distemper. Multiple sclerosis is a lingering disease of the nervous system which causes difficulty in the use of limbs, vision, and ultimately all nerve functions.

The disease strikes people of all ages, but, most often young adults.

The earlier study showed that 26 of 29 multiple sclerosis sufferers owned dogs, and two of the remaining three owned cats.

It found that small dogs kept mostly indoors were more likely than large dogs to be associated with the disease.