Viral Infections and Demyelinating Diseases

Abstract

VIRAL infections can cause demyelinating disease in human beings and laboratory animals. Recent studies of these infections along with epidemiologic data have led to growing speculation that a virus may cause multiple sclerosis, the most common demyelinating disease of man. This review will discuss the human demyelinating diseases clearly associated with viral infections, the experimental diseases in which mechanisms of virus-induced demyelination are being investigated, and the still inconclusive evidence for a viral etiology of multiple sclerosis.Virus, Myelin and DemyelinationA virus consists of a single nucleic acid (either DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat, the capsid. . . .