There has been an announcement here that what they believe is the full genetic blueprint of the basis of Multiple Sclerosis has been laid out -------- a total of 57 genes have been associated with the development of the disease. It has been known for some time that vitamin D or rather a deficiency of it, has been closely associated with the onset of MS. The incidence of MS in Tasmania (for you US Americans that do not have any maps, that is an Australian state at latitude 42* Sth
) is six times higher in that state than it is in Queensland, a tropical state in the north. It is looking more than ever as if vitamin D and our immune systems are intricately linked as the incidence in auto immune diseases rapidly increase. This causes me to wonder if the changes in society over the last 100-150 years are the basis of this development ----------- there was time when almost all work was carried out in the
open air and sunshine while nowadays most people would be spending most of their daylight hours indoors, hence the drop in vitamin D levels. Perhaps a life long low level causes our immune systems to fail if an individual has a genetic pr
opensity for a particular disease.
It will be interesting what other things the study of genetics and disease reveal over the next 25 years (probably too late for me then though
)
Bill