Nerve fibers help communicate impulses to and from the brain. When MS damages the protective covering of those fibers, basic and routine functions are disrupted. Although multiple sclerosis was identified more than 100 years ago, nobody knows what causes it. Researchers have long suspected that MS is an autoimmune disease, along the same lines as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The cause of suspected autoimmune disorders remains unknown, although with MS, most scientists believe that a pathogen or some kind of genetic deviance prompts the immune system to betray the body.
Some ethnic groups are more prone to acquiring the disease than others.
Indeed, so many physicians assume that MS is an autoimmune disease that in some circles, it's taken as fact. Defying nearly every other scientist in his field, Sriram instead thinks that MS is an infectious disease, caused by the everyday bacteria, Chlamydia pneumoniae . In a story appearing in Mirabella magazine, renowned science writer Hillary Johnson notes that the implications of Sriram's hypothesis are staggering. Basically, if Sriram's hypothesis proves true, scientists could develop a vaccine for MS and relegate it along with polio and smallpox to the dustbin of medical history. That might take a while.