Multiple Sclerosis in Japanese-Americans A Preliminary Report

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Abstract
Although the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) appears to be related to latitude, the prevalences reported in several major cities in Japan do not relate consistently to latitude and are far lower than in areas at the same latitudes in the rest of the world, suggesting that the pathopoiesis of MS may be analogous to that of paralytic poliomyelitis. If true, then the rates among Japanese migrants to the US would be similar to the rate among Caucasian Americans in the same areas. As part of a large prevalence study, cases of MS among Japanese-Americans were exhaustively searched for among the 103,944 Japanese-Americans in Los Angeles County and the 10,557 Japanese-Americans in King County. No cases of multiple sclerosis were identified among Japanese-Americans in King County and eight cases, one of which was not resident on ‘prevalence day’, were identified in Los Angeles County, giving an estimated prevalence of 0/100,000 in King County and 6 . 7/100,000 in Los Angeles. Estimated prevalences among non-Japanese derived from the same study were 90–3/100,000 in King County and 29 .9/100,000 in Los Angeles County. These preliminary results suggest that Japanese have some degree of host-related protection.

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