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E. S. Roach, MD

Arch Neurol. 2004;61:1615-1616.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been debated for decades. At times the arguments have been based on equal parts speculation, fact, and whimsy. (What happened, for example, to the notion that the increased incidence of MS in northern latitudes occurs because people in these colder regions are more likely to be exposed to pet-borne viruses because their animals remain indoors?) As Mark Twain once quipped, "The fascinating thing about science is that one gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." Some speculation is not always bad, of course, because some concept of what is possible is necessary to develop a model that can be objectively studied.

Both sides ^1-2 make valid points here, and there may be more common ground between the authors than is at first apparent. Everyone acknowledges that MS can affect neurons as well as . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Author Affiliation: Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC.

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