HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stewart, G J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Stewart, G J Related Collections Multiple sclerosis Sexually Transmitted Infections

Infection and multiple sclerosis—a new hypothesis?

Institute for Immunology & Allergy Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead Campus, University of Sydney, Westmead NSW 2145, Australia; stewartg@westgate.wh.usyd.edu.au

Keywords: multiple sclerosis; sexually transmitted infection

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

There is general agreement that multiple sclerosis is the result of both environmental and genetic factors. In the paper by Hawkes¹ (this issue, pp 439–43) a hypothesis is proposed that the environmental component is an infectious agent, transmitted sexually. His thesis is based on a new look at old data; it has not been stimulated by recent discovery.

Evidence for an environmental factor in multiple sclerosis has come from studies of migrating populations, small epidemics and variation of prevalence with latitude. Many of these studies are cited by Hawkes. The possibility that the environmental factor is a transmissible infection was reviewed in detail by Kurtzke² in 1993, who proposed that the MS agent is an as yet unidentified retrovirus that results in widespread asymptomatic infection in early adolescence. Hawkes’ extension of the Kurtzke² hypothesis to a sexually transmitted infection (STI) with a neurotropic agent appears to rely on . . . [Full text of this article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. F. Mendez, E. A. Licht, and J. S. Shapira Changes in Dietary or Eating Behavior in Frontotemporal Dementia Versus Alzheimer's Disease American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, June 1, 2008; 23(3): 280 - 285. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B Anlar Infection and multiple sclerosis J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, May 1, 2003; 74(5): 692 - 693. [Full Text]