Prior events in multiple sclerosis

Analysis of 60 Irish multiple sclerosis patients and matched controls for events prior to onset showed that parents of the patients died at a younger age and that there was a significant excess of infectious, traumatic, and operative events before age 20 in the patient group. A slight increase of possible perinatal anoxia, of possibly infectious infantile illnesses and burns in early childhood, and of operative events in the second decade also was found. Multiple sclerosis may be the unique response of the human nervous system in the susceptible individual to nonspecific injury and infection occurring first in early life and then in the second decade.