What is MS

The protective covering or insulation of the nerve fibres (myelin) in the central nervous system is damaged and thus nerve impulses to the brain, spine and optic nerve are short circuited.
Its many varied symptoms include problems in vision, mobility, speech weakness, numbness, memory, bowel and bladder control.
Over 2.5 million people worldwide are diagnosed with MS MS affects twice as many women as men, most diagnosed between 20 and 40 years of age.
There is one new diagnosis of a person with MS each day
These are just people who are registered with the MS Society. We think that there could be as many people out there with MS who are not registered with the MS Society.
It is the most common chronic neurological disease of young Australians aged between 17 - 50.
MS is not contagious nor directly inheritable
70 % of people who have MS are female.
98% of people with MS are of Caucasian background " MS is rarely a fatal disease.
- For some people, MS is a severe disease causing life threatening complications. However the majority of people with MS die from unrelated causes and have a near-normal life span.
-Multiple Sclerosis - means "many scars". Multiple meaning many and Sclerosis is Greek for Scars.
-It is a disease that affects the central nervous system and for reasons, which remain a mystery, in MS the body's own immune system attacks its self.