OBJECTIVE: To report on the occurrence of clinical @entity15 among indigenous Bantu African Kenyans who have never been out of the country. DESIGN: A retrospective study. SETTING: A private neurology and clinical electrophysiology clinic. SUBJECTS: All the @entity1 referred to the clinic by neurologists and other specialists for electrophysiological tests with diverse neurological complaints. The @entity1 examined and diagnosed as having @entity15 on clinical grounds and established criteria are reported. RESULTS: Out of 2831 @entity1 referred for electrophysiological tests over a ten year period, nine @entity1 were diagnosed as having definite @entity15 on clinical grounds. Four of these had supporting laboratory findings (MRI scans, CSF studies and visual evoked responses). The presenting symptoms @entity227 and somatic sensorimotor disturbances which were seen in all the @entity1 . @entity76 was observed less frequently, in less than half of the @entity1 while sphincter disturbances were conspicuously rare. The sex distribution was overwhelmingly in favour of the female at a ratio of 7:2. A part from two @entity1 of Indo-asian ethnicity, all the others were indigenous Bantu Africans who had never travelled outside their country before the onset of the illness. CONCLUSIONS: @entity15 occurs amongst Bantu Africans and may not be as rare as previously suggested and its prevalence is certainly on the increase. The development of higher incidence rates in communities where the illness was previously unknown may present opportune settings for the study of aetiological factors of this illness as it emerges. There is a need therefore for proper epidemiological studies to evaluate these factors, especially environmental factors, as the new disease continues to appear.

Emerging picture of XXXX in Kenya.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity227 :: ('MESH:D014786', 'Disease') :: ['were predominantly visual disturbances'] @entity15 :: ('MESH:D009103', 'Disease') :: ['Multiple sclerosis', 'multiple sclerosis'] @entity76 :: ('MESH:D002526', 'Disease') :: ['Cerebellar dysfunction']
@entity15 :: (MESH:D009103,Disease) :: ['multiple sclerosis']
