MS May Be Sexually Transmitted - Doctor

Reuters ^ | 9/18/02

[truthandlife]

Multiple sclerosis, a common disease of the central nervous system, could be sexually transmitted, a British scientist said Thursday.

Dr. Christopher Hawkes, of London's Institute of Neurology, said his analysis of published data on the illness that affects about a million people worldwide, supports the hypothesis.

Experts however criticized his report saying there was no evidence to support it.

"I propose that multiple sclerosis (MS) is a sexually transmitted infection acquired principally during adolescence and mainly from infected but not necessarily symptomatic males," he said in a report in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Hawkes said it may not be the only cause of the neurological disorder but some people may have an inherited susceptibility to a sexually transmitted infectious agent.

But the chief executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in Britain criticized the report, saying there is no direct evidence for sexual transmission.

"We share the view that this is pure speculation based on interpretation of data collected for other reasons," the society's Mike O'Donovan said in a statement.

Alastair Compston, a professor of neurology at Cambridge University, described the report as having little scientific value because it contains no new facts.

"The hypothesis falls down quickly and repeatedly in the face of known facts," he explained.

Hawkes said migration studies and data on clusters and epidemics support the hypothesis. He noted that epidemics of MS like those in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, the Orkneys and the Shetlands suggest a rise in MS cases after the arrival of military troops.

Higher rates of MS in young, sexually active people and in cultures with more permissive sexual attitudes and drug misusers also support the hypothesis, according to Hawkes.

"This theory provides a testable hypothesis which could be addressed by a case-control study of multiple sclerosis patients and their partners," he added.

MS is a progressive disease in which the myelin sheath that protects the brain and spinal cord is damaged or destroyed. The illness, which is most common in colder countries and is rare in Africa and Asia, usually occurs between 20 and 40 years old.

[truthandlife]

If AIDS doesn't scare you, this might.

[B-A-Grizzley]

This theory is pure bunk.

My dear wife has MS. She did not get it as an STD.

[FreeTally]

This theory is pure bunk.

I agree.

[NetValue]

"This theory is pure bunk."

Thanks for your opinion. I prefer to see the evidence before I agree or disagree.

[Cicero]

Almost certainly bunk. It's remotely possible that MS might be triggered or made more likely in some fashion by some of the various STDs. Analogously, stress doesn't itself cause diseases, but it can trigger them or make them more likely or more severe. To take another example, the common cold is not a bacterial infection, but it can trigger bacterial infections by weakening the system.

Hawkes's theory is presented as a hypothesis. The way modern science works is that someone puts forward a hypothesis, sometimes an outlandish hypothesis, and then other scientists either prove or disprove it on the evidence. If they disprove it, then the hypothesis is ruled out and it could be said that science knows a little more than it did before.

There's also cost effectiveness. Is it worth while doing the studies that would definitively prove or disprove this hypothesis, which is probably bunk? I don't know.

[B-A-Grizzley]

Gee, maybe I wasn't clear enough.

I have living evidence that this is not the cause.

[far sider]

Gee, maybe I wasn't clear enough.

I have living evidence that this is not the cause.

You were very clear. I don't doubt what you say. But I don't think the Doctor was saying that MS is ONLY transmitted sexually. Just that it may ALSO be transmitted sexually and it should be looked into.

[StockAyatollah]

If it is an STD then it would be commonplace in highly promiscuous populations, where AIDS is prominent. South Africa would be one such place, yet the article says MS is rare in Africa. Therefore, the theory is bunk. QED.

[Jake0001]

'tis true.

Of course they might be dying before they can be diagnosed or develop the symptoms.

Further how can one make a hypothesis without identifying the pathogen's type (ex. virus, bacterial, ameoba, protozoa, fungi, etc.). Or without presenting substantiative evidence such as results of tracking former sex partners of MS patients.

[PAR35]

Comments to previously posted version here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/753244/posts

MS May Be Sexually Transmitted - Doctor
REUTERS via AOL ^ | 9/18/02 | Unsigned

Posted on 09/18/2002 9:03 PM Central by IncPen

And, for some reason, it doesn't show up when you search on MS.

[Mediaeval]

While not included in the article above, a study of 13,000 married couples showed only 1 spouse (of the 13,000) to have MS as well. Article is available here: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020918-043829-4438r

[FreedomFarmer]

MS May Be Sexually Transmitted

Gates is busy setting up the user fees.

[VOA]

Almost certainly bunk.

Probably so.

But, if economically practicable, MAYBE should be looked at.
IIRC, the Australian doctor who stumbled across antibiotics as a treatment
for some stomach ulcers was thought to be out to lunch at one point.

[jalisco555]

Whether or not MS is an STD I don't know. However, we must be open to the possibility that diseases we don't think of as infectious may in fact be caused by infections we've not yet identified. The most prominent example of this shift in thinking was the discovery that most gastric ulcers as well as many gastric cancers are caused by a bacterial infection and not simply a derangement of acid production.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Almost certainly bunk. It's remotely possible that MS might be triggered or made more likely in some fashion by some of the various STDs. Analogously, stress doesn't itself cause diseases, but it can trigger them or make them more likely or more severe. To take another example, the common cold is not a bacterial infection, but it can trigger bacterial infections by weakening the system.

It constitutes thinking outside the box, at least.

Diseases are easily spread only if they don't kill or disable their hosts too fast.

Hence MS, having a gestation period of decades, would be easily spread. So the question would be, "If indeed some ST agent contributes to the development of MS, what else is necessary for MS to develop?"

The conclusion would have to be that ST infection would not likely be necessary, certainly not be sufficient. Correlation isn't causation, but you do have to make a little room for taking a look where most would assume zero effect.

[SarahW]

The truth may be in the middle.

It would not be "caught" from sex in the same way as gonorrhea.

However, exposure to pathogens from sex could one way AMONG OTHERS that an MS-triggering infection could be caused.

I have a spondyloarthropathy. I have a genetic susceptibility to this family of arthritic diseases.
All diseases in this family are probably an expression of infection in genetically susceptible individuals.

However, there is more than one way to get an infection triggering a spondyloarthropathy. One but by no means the *only* or even most common way, is by infection with a sexually transmitted bacterium. Exposure to salmonella or proliferation of "normal" bacteria like klebsiella in the gut will suffice.

Gut infection, lung infection, infection in ANY part of the body can trigger the arthritis.

So I would not be surprised if genetic susceptibility to certain infectious agents played a role, and that some of these can be transmitted sexually. However, that is almost assuredly not the only way the infection could occur.

[MedicalMess]

You are all wrong and full of crap because none of you have studied this disease.

There are probably at least 20 pathogens that will cause MS symptoms. Several clinics have treated MS successfully with antibiotics with between 25 and 45% success rates. Other people have been cured through adult revaccinations for child diseases and the new Chickenpox vaccine with 30% success rates. Fungus has been documented and completely overlooked in treatment.

For the record MS is Sub-acute Chronic Stealth Infection of meningitis/encephalitis origin.

I am working on this data and have six hypothetical strategies ready to go. The first two are treatment with Diflucan and HHV6/Chickenpox vaccination. The third treatment uses Penicillin VK/Augmentin/Rifampin only if patient is absent positive test for Clostridium species. Fourth formula involves Levaquin/Doxicycline/Azithromycin. Fifth formula involves Flagyl/TMP-SMX. Sixth formula is still under consideration.

These formulas are based on safety first and expected pathagen population distribution numbers second. Cost is not a consideration with MS patients because of severity of prognosis.

There are at least four pathogens whose primary means of transmission is sexual and can be easily overlooked because they are stealth in nature. They are known to cause plaques in various locations of the body.

If you want more information on dosages and substantiating documents you can pay me $30 for the proof and $150 for the formulas and treatment strategies.

[MedicalMess]

I have anylosing spondylitis. It is caused by Clostridium in my case. Yours is probably the same. It responds to Flagyl antibiotic although in a wierd way. It is a secondary infection to pneumonia so if you get contaminated by Klebsiellia from fecal material you also pick up the Clostridium from the gut. Getting the Klebsiella pneumonia changes the lung environment to anaerobic and allows the Clostridium to penetrate into the blood and lymph systems. I bet you have confirmed HLA-B27 gene tests which is not necessarily a family genetic test because Klebsiella has the same gene sequence.

I have the spondyloarthropathy but am NOT, repeat NOT HLA-B27 positive. My pneumonia was induced by inhaling a pretzel stick by accident at age three and a half. The Clostridium was present in the family in the form of my mother's Type II Diabetes. Saint Judes Hospital for Children has confirmed a 100% past history infection with pneumonia in all children with ankylosing spondylitis which is why they're off hop-scotching around looking at pneumonia pathogens instead of the environment that pneumonia creates which allows an infection to get in that never could otherwise.

My dad probably got it when he suffered a collapsed lung. His entire spine was fused by the time he died.

[MedicalMess]

Diseases are easily spread only if they don't kill or disable their hosts too fast. Hence MS, having a gestation period of decades, would be easily spread. So the question would be, "If indeed some ST agent contributes to the development of MS, what else is necessary for MS to develop?"

Think Clostridium species, Chlamydia species and fungus such as Candidias and Cryptococcus. They have all been seen on the brain in acute form and they all cause plaques and abscesses. This is only six of the more than twenty suspects of MS. Almost all people could mound an immune defense so these infections are far more likely to be seen as sub-acute or even assymptomatic.

[MedicalMess]

mound = mount

and pardon any other misspellings. Don't have my medical dictionary on-line.