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by Gerardo D'Amico 05 December 2019In Italy, 122,000 people have multiple sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease that affects the central nervous system: plaques are created in the brain, in the optic nerves, in the spinal cord caused by "demyelination": a autoimmune inflammatory process, in which the immune system attacks the myelin which is the sheath that protects and isolates nerve cells, as well as oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce it.

It is a neurodegenerative disease because it is progressive, although half of those with multiple sclerosis do not have symptoms that prevent the normal course of daily activities.


It can start even at a young age, around the age of 20, the scars that form in the demyelinated area prevent the passage of nerve communications, and it is usually the symptoms linked to motor deficits that bring the person affected by the doctor. It is the magnetic resonance to establish whether there are plaques in the brain, the confirmation comes from the examination of the spinal fluid.

Multiple sclerosis is not an inherited or even an infectious disease, it is not transmitted from person to person: the basis is genetic. Those affected can have visual disturbances, reduced sensitivity to touch, intestinal and bladder disorders, a sense of constant tiredness. With the advance of the disease, cognitive, sexual, motor coordination and language disorders may occur.


But there is no single form of multiple sclerosis. There is the one called Clinically Isolated Syndrome, an episode of demyelination of the central nervous system that lasts at least 24 hours: in this case the probability of developing a true Multiple Sclerosis is low.

Then there is Multiple Sclerosis with a recurrent-intermittent course, which is the most widespread form: acute episodes follow periods of remission of the disease.

Again, there is secondary progressive MS, it is the evolution of the previous one, leading to a persistent and progressive disability.

While the primarily progressive Multiple Sclerosis is the rarest but the most debilitating, the symptoms appear from the beginning in severe form, and there are no remissions.
Finally, there is a form called "radiologically isolated": that is, it turns out to have one or more lesions in the brain randomly, doing routine diagnostics or for other reasons: it is not said to be Multiple Sclerosis.

Several drugs are available for multiple sclerosis, those that are symptomatic to reduce pain and those that are used depending on the degree of the lesions to avoid new formations: they are biological drugs that target particular genetic markers.
Also experimenting with stem cells to restore nerve cells "burned" by the lack of myelin.