MS (multiple sclerosis) Awareness Week – March 9-15, 2025

History of MS (multiple sclerosis) Awareness Week

Multiple sclerosis is an auto-immune disease that affects the central nervous system. This auto-immune disease has been in existence for centuries. It was first documented by a French professor, Jean Cruveilhier, in 1793. Professor Cruveilhier gave a detailed description of multiple sclerosis but failed to identify it as a separate disease. By 1836 a Swiss pathologist, Georg Eduard Rindfleisch, discovered that inflammations attributed to lesions were distributed in the blood cells. The first recognition of Multiple Sclerosis came in 1868 by the French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. He made observations and consulted reports from his predecessors. He named the disease “sclerose en plaques.”

Attempts at establishing a diagnosis for the disease were also made by Jean-Martin Charcot. He observed the cognitive changes in his patients and made the observation that conceptions were slowly formed. He published more about the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in a book titled “Charcot Triad.” By 1965, an attempt to standardize the method of diagnosing M.S. was made by Schumacher. He stated that the “dissemination of lesions in time and space and the signs and symptoms of M.S. cannot be explained by the process of other diseases.” The requirements he gave were adopted and improved in 2010. The updated criteria by Poser and McDonald are still in use.

By the 20th century, theories about the cause of multiple sclerosis led to effective treatments being developed in the 1990s. By the 21st century, the treatments became refined, using only one proven lesion for the diagnosis of M.S. Although there is no cure for M.S., improvements in the treatment methods give hope for the future.