MS in the Faroes: An Update

Le résumé fourni par la source

AbstractThe Faroe Islands are a group of small islands lying between Norway and Iceland in the North Atlantic Ocean. As of 1977 there were 25 cases of MS among native-born resident Faroese. All but one began between 1943 and 1960, and these cases were considered to represent a point-source epidemic. As of 1981 there are still no lifelong residents whose MS had begun before 1943.In a separate study a similar epidemic has been defined for Iceland. The average annual incidence rate of 3.2 per 100,000 for 1945–54 was almost twice the rate before or after.On the Faroes, the MS outbreak was not related to the occurrence of measles, which was recurrently epidemic for almost a century. There was a strong correlation between the locations of the British troops stationed on the Faroes during their five-year occupation in World War II and the residences of the MS patients. Maximal troop concentrations extended from early 1942 to late 1943. Iceland too was occupied during the war.The inference from both epidemics is that MS is an exogenous, acquired disease. If the relation with the occupations is causal, then the disease is also transmittable, or at least transportable.

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