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Association found between Helicobacter Pylori and Multiple Sclerosis

Association found between Helicobacter Pylori and Multiple Sclerosis

Women with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) more often test negative for H. Pylori than women without MS, according to an article in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. The association could mean that H. Pylori protects against the development of MS. Another explanation could be that the gut microbe is a marker for a relatively bad hygiene. According to the hygiene hypothesis, diseases like MS develop because good hygiene results in too few infections in early life, thus failing to prime the immune system enough.

M. Pedrini and colleagues investigated the serum of 550 MS-patients. These patients were matched with 299 controls for year of birth and gender. The presence of IgG antibodies against H. Pylori was determined. The patients with MS were more often seronegative for H. Pylori than the controls(16 versus 21 percent). This association was only found for women (14 versus 22 percent) and not for men. The women who were seronegative also had a lower disability score than the women who were seropositive.

The findings could mean that H. Pylori protects against the development of MS. It could also mean that the microbe doesn't have a direct effect on MS, but is a marker for the hygiene hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, infections early in life are important for priming the immune system. When a person has very few infections early in life, he might have a bigger chance to develop allergies and auto-immune disorders later in life. H. pylori is usually acquired before the age of 2, and lasts for life in the stomach, unless treated. It is thus a marker for bad hygiene and the bad hygiene might be responsible for protection against MS.

In a linked editorial, Professor Jun-ichi Kira, of the Neurological Institute at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, also mentions the hygiene hypothesis. According to Kira, the hypothesis might explain why MS and allergies are on the rise in developing countries. In these countries the hygiene gets better, with a rise of these diseases as a possible side effect.


Source: Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

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