Michael Woods Alzheimer's disease and other serious brain disorders that occur mainly in older people get constant attention. But awareness of MS is becoming more important. A major study last year found that early drug treatment with Avonex reduced the risk of developing more advanced MS by almost 50 percent. Then patients and doctors should make a decision on drug therapy. MS is a real-life medical mystery, on several counts.
Nobody knows exactly how many people have it.
An estimated 250,000 to 350,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed. Thousands of other people have early or mild symptoms, but no diagnosis. Mysteriously, MS is five times more common among people living in northern areas of the United States, Canada, and Europe. Age 15 is critical in deciding an individual's risk. A person moving from a high-risk northern area to a southern area before age 15 adopts the low risk of the new area.