MS Speaks

A small and maybe valueless study but it's from Medical News Today, December 5, 2013. The "brain scans" discussed are MRIs.

TB vaccine holds promise for MS sufferers

 A vaccine used to prevent tuberculosis in some parts of the world has been found to help prevent multiple sclerosis in people demonstrating early signs of the disease, according to a report published in Neurology.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is notoriously difficult to diagnose, and many physicians rule out every other possibility before confirming the diagnosis. ...

The researchers say that about 50% of people with these symptoms, called clinically isolated syndrome, will develop MS within 2 years, while 10% will show no more MS-related symptoms.

The study, which was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health, among other organizations, focused on 73 people who had experienced a single episode of MS-related symptoms.

For the study, 33 participants were given an injection of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), while the remaining participants were given a placebo. All the participants then had a brain scan once a month for 6 months and were then treated with the MS drug interferon beta-1a for a year.

Subsequent treatment was at the recommendation of their neurologist. The participants were followed for 5 years.

Fewer brain lesions

The brain scans of the vaccinated group showed fewer brain lesions that are characteristic of the disease than the group that received the placebo - three lesions on average, compared with seven.

And by the end of the study, 42% of the vaccinated group had developed MS, compared with 70% of the placebo group.

Although there were no adverse side effects, Dr. Giovanni Ristori, of Sapienza University of Rome in Italy, warns that more work needs to be done before this can be heralded as a cure:

"These results are promising, but much more research needs to be done to learn more about the safety and long-term effects of this live vaccine. Doctors should not start using this vaccine to treat MS or clinically isolated syndrome."

...

Written by Belinda Weber

The entire article can be seen here.

For an abstract of the study, see here.

The MS International Federation has picked the story up as well (December 12, 2013). See here.