ReviewClinical microbiology reviews1993
Epidemiologic evidence for multiple sclerosis as an infection.
Review in Clinical microbiology reviews, 1993. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 137 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 460 citations in OpenAlex.
- A controlled study of potential risk factors preceding exacerbation in multiple sclerosis.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 1995Trial
- Plaque-associated expression of human herpesvirus 6 in multiple sclerosis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 1995Trial
- Utility of mimicking B cell epitopes between Mycobacterium leprae and host as prognostic biomarkers in type 1 reaction in leprosy.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Multiple sclerosis and infection: history, EBV, and the search for mechanism.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- New views on the complex interplay between degeneration and autoimmunity in multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection and multi-organ system damage: A review.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2023Review
- Does multiple sclerosis have a zoonotic origin? Correlations with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Liguria region, Italy: an estimate using the capture-recapture method.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022Article
- The role of Bordetella pertussis in the development of multiple sclerosis.BMC neurology · 2022Article
- Mimicking B and T cell epitopes between Mycobacterium leprae and host as predictive biomarkers in type 1 reaction in leprosy.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Transcriptome analysis following neurotropic virus infection reveals faulty innate immunity and delayed antigen presentation in mice susceptible to virus-induced demyelination.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Anti-inflammatory Therapy by Cholinergic and Purinergic Modulation in Multiple Sclerosis Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Molecular neurobiology · 2021Review
- Multiple sclerosis incidence rate in southern Iran: a Bayesian epidemiological study.BMC neurology · 2021Article
- Mechanistic underpinning of an inside-out concept for autoimmunity in multiple sclerosis.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2021Review
- Demyelination as a result of an immune response in patients with COVID-19.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2021Review
- Neurological Sequelae in Patients with COVID-19: A Histopathological Perspective.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Neurological Complications Associated with the Blood-Brain Barrier Damage Induced by the Inflammatory Response During SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Molecular neurobiology · 2021Review
- The Immunopathogenesis of Neuroinvasive Lesions of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in COVID-19 Patients.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Review
- Neuroinvasion, neurotropic, and neuroinflammatory events of SARS-CoV-2: understanding the neurological manifestations in COVID-19 patients.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020Review
- Potential neurological effects of severe COVID-19 infection.Neuroscience research · 2020Review
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The worldwide distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) can be described within three zones of frequency: high, medium, and low. The disease has a predilection for white races and for women. Migration studies show that changing residence changes MS risk. Studies of persons moving from high- to low-risk areas indicate that in the high-risk areas, MS is acquired by about age 15. Moves from low- to high-risk areas suggest that susceptibility is limited to persons between about ages 11 and 45. MS on the Faroe Islands has occurred as four successive epidemics beginning in 1943. The disease appears to have been introduced by British troops who occupied the islands for 5 years from 1940, and it has remained geographically localized within the Faroes for half a century. What was introduced must have been an infection, called the primary MS affection (PMSA), that was spread to and from successive cohorts of Faroese. In this concept, PMSA is a single widespread systemic infectious disease (perhaps asymptomatic) that only seldom leads to clinical neurologic MS. PMSA is also characterized by a need for prolonged exposure, limited age of susceptibility, and prolonged incubation. I believe that clinical MS is the rare late outcome of a specific, but unknown, infectious disease of adolescence and young adulthood and that this infection could well be caused by a thus-far-unidentified (retro)virus.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.