The fact of having multiple sclerosis does not seem to be an aggravating factor of the coronavirus, according to the first conclusions of several organizations specialized in this autoimmune disease to which a world day is devoted Saturday.
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"What is reassuring is that there is nothing to suggest for the moment that multiple sclerosis may be responsible for more serious forms of Covid-19," neurologist Jean Pelletier of the Arsep Foundation told AFP. (Help with research on multiple sclerosis).
Data from 360 patients studied
Besides taking the disease itself, taking immunosuppressive therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) also doesn't seem to be associated with the risk of serious forms of Covid-19, he adds. These first conclusions come from a study carried out in particular by the Arsep Foundation, the French-speaking society of multiple sclerosis (SF-SEP) and the French Observatory of this disease (Ofsep).
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It relates to a "database of approximately 360 MS patients who contracted Covid-19", according to Professor Pelletier. "The aim was to answer three questions: are patients (with MS) more likely to contract the virus, to develop severe forms, in particular respiratory, and are the treatments associated with a risk of developing forms more serious "of the Covid-19, he continues.
100,000 patients in France
"On these 3 questions that worried us and worried the patients, the answer is rather no," adds Professor Pelletier, even if larger investigations are necessary to draw definitive conclusions.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It causes an imbalance in the immune system, which attacks myelin, the protective sheath of nerve fibers. It is estimated that more than 2 million the number of patients worldwide (100,000 in France, 400,000 in Europe).