Further Studies on the Epidemiology of Multiple Sclerosis in Finland

The places of birth of 1,000 Finnish patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were located according to the population statistics of 1930. The highest frequency of the disease was found in a small district, Jalasjärvi, composed of 6 rural communes in the western high-risk area of the country. One animal disease, nutritional muscular dystrophy of the cattle (NMD), appeared to be very common in the same western area and, in 1970, its highest frequency was also found in the Jalasjärvi district. Some western accumulation was found in the cases of two viruses of cereals, European wheat striate mosaie virus (EWSMV) and oat sterile dwarf virus (OSDV), but both of them were rare in the southwestern part of Finland where the prevalence of MS was high.