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The symptoms of MS vary greatly and can range from mild to severe.

Symptoms can appear suddenly and then vanish for years after the first episode, or in some cases never reappear. Most commonly, MS starts with a vague symptom that disappears completely within a few days or weeks. Smoking and obesity may worsen the condition. Other possible triggers include exposure to toxins and heavy metals, as well as low levels of vitamin D. And while it is not an inherited disease, there is a higher risk for MS in families where it has already occurred. Researchers do know that MS is not contagious. Some researchers believe this abnormal immune response could be caused by a virus, although it is unlikely that there is just one virus responsible for triggering the condition. This is why the severity of problems varies greatly among people affected with MS. Sometimes the diseased areas cause no apparent symptoms, and sometimes they cause many. This is where the disease's name comes from: multiple sclerosis. These misdirected immune cells (certain types of lymphocytes, T-cells, B-cells and natural killer cells) attack and consume myelin, so that messages are sent either very slowly or never reach their destination.Įventually, there is a buildup of scar tissue (sclerosis) in multiple places where myelin has been lost. Though the body usually sends in immune cells to fight off bacteria and viruses, in MS the immune cells attack the body's own healthy nervous system, thus the term autoimmune disease.

The cause of MS is still unknown, but many researchers think it results from an abnormal response by the body's immune system. It was thought that MS developed more often in white people than in Black people, but recent studies over the last decade show this may not be the case. MS affects nearly 1 million people in the United States, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and impacts two to three times more women than men. The destruction of parts of the brain and spinal cord can affect a person's social life, work and mental health. MS attacks and destroys myelin (a coating made up of fat and protein that protects the nerves) and the oligodendrocytes (the cells that produce myelin). Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, sometimes disabling, disease of the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord).