Did you know no one knows with absolute certainty how many people in the U.S. are diagnosed with MS every year, or how many have MS right now, although the National MS Society estimates that about 400,000 people have the disease. Steps are now being taken by a federal agency and by the National MS Society to rectify this uncertainty, including a proposal to develop a national surveillance system for MS and the launching of a National MS Society Task Force on Epidemiology. These efforts should help to bring researchers closer to identifying a possible cause of MS and should bolster programs and advocacy on behalf of people who have the disease. One reason for uncertainty concerning the number of people with MS in the U.S. is that MS is a chronic disease that is not tracked by any federal agency such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or by health departments, which tend to focus on outbreaks of infectious disease such as tuberculosis. Having more precise numbers for MS would help researchers investigate possible disease clusters, provide baseline data for the study of environmental and genetic risk factors, and help agencies such as the National MS Society gear programs to specific subpopulations of people with MS.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 20:02:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015