There are 15,000 people in Ohio who have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This is one of the highest incidence rates of any disease, anywhere.

Multiple sclerosis affects the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. It results in the loss of neurological function, and it can produce a number of symptoms.

“Multiple sclerosis is considered an autoimmune disease,” said Rob Baker, vice president of the Columbus Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“In autoimmune diseases, the immune system reacts to a normal part of the body as if that part were foreign,” Baker said. “For people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the myelin that protects their nerve fibers is destroyed or damaged.”

Myelin is a fatty tissue that protects the nerve fibers of the central nervous system and helps those fibers conduct electrical impulses. This damage hinders the ability of nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain, producing the various symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

“Symptoms can range from tremors to fatigue to vision problems,” Baker said. “They are unpredictable and vary from person to person.”

Affecting more that 400,000 people in the United States, the disease is usually diagnosed in young adulthood, and the majority of people diagnosed are women.

Jenny DeCaro, 23, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a year and a half ago.

“I think I have had it for a while, so there are a lot of symptoms I’ve had from it over the years like dizziness or fatigue,” DeCaro said. “But the main reason I went to the doctor was because my feet tingled all the time. It felt like pins and needles.”

After getting an MRI, DeCaro was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

“It was almost a relief, in a way, to find out because I knew that something was wrong with me,” DeCaro said. “Now I take a shot once a week, and, other than that, I try to get lots of sleep. It feels good to take care of myself.”

While the exact cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown, much research has been done to find treatments for the disease.

A recent study by Dr. Kottil W. Rammohan, a neurologist at the Ohio State University Medical Center, was done to find an effective therapy to alleviate the fatigue suffered by many patients living with multiple sclerosis.

Rammohan and his colleagues tested the use of the drug Modafinil. It is a drug that has been used to treat narcolepsy, a disease in which patients experience uncontrolled sleepiness.

Patients who took the 200-milligram dose of Modafinil, administered once daily, showed significant improvement. No other drug has proved so effective in treating multiple sclerosis-related fatigue in any previous clinical trial.

“We were very pleased to find the medication was able to treat the fatigue associated with multiple sclerosis,” Rammohan said.

He and his colleagues also found there were no serious side effects associated with the medication.

Rammohan said fatigue is one of the most common and disabling symptoms of multiple sclerosis. It affects 75 to 90 percent of patients with the disease.

Some other common symptoms of the disease are loss of motor function, sensory impairment, bowel and bladder dysfunction and problems related to cognition, memory and personality.

Another recent study done at the OSU Medical Center found a peptide, two or more amino acids bonded together, that may help suppress multiple sclerosis. The study done in mice found that the peptide blocks interactions between cells critical to the immune response.

“There’s a straightforward message from this: This peptide treatment stops the assault of autoimmune disease by preventing immune-cell interactions,” said Caroline C. Whitacre, professor and chair of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at the OSU College of Medicine and Public Health.

“Even after the disease is ongoing, a single administration of the peptide suppresses the disease,” Whitacre said. “We don’t know yet if this treatment will be effective for multiple sclerosis, but the implication is that administering this peptide to a patient with active disease could make that patient better.”

Because Ohio has such a high number of multiple sclerosis diagnoses, much of the research done on the disease is based here. Over the next few years, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will provide $6 billion to the OSU Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic and other research centers to find ways to treat and suppress the disease.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved several treatments that alter the course of multiple sclerosis, and early treatment is critical. People who exhibit symptoms related to multiple sclerosis are encouraged to consult a doctor. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has centers in every state that provide diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of multiple sclerosis.