Alter M, Zhang Z X, Davanipour Z, Sobel E, Zibulewski J, Schwartz G, Friday G
Neurology. 1986 Oct;36(10):1386-9. doi: 10.1212/wnl.36.10.1386.
Migration from an area where MS is common to an area where it is rare (and vice versa) affects the risk of MS, provided migration occurs in childhood. A childhood infection might explain this effect. Therefore, the age pattern of infectious diseases in different regions was examined. A higher proportion of children showed positive titers to many viral diseases early in life in areas where MS is rare compared with those where MS is common. Also, mortality rates from a variety of infectious diseases correlated negatively with the MS mortality. Thus, infection early in life may "protect" against MS, and conversely, later infection, when the immune system has partially matured, may increase risk. MS may be an age-dependent, host-immune response to childhood infection.
从多发性硬化症常见地区迁移到罕见地区（反之亦然）会影响患多发性硬化症的风险，前提是迁移发生在儿童时期。儿童期感染可能解释这种影响。因此，研究了不同地区传染病的年龄模式。与多发性硬化症常见地区相比，在多发性硬化症罕见地区，更高比例的儿童在生命早期对多种病毒性疾病的检测呈阳性。此外，各种传染病的死亡率与多发性硬化症死亡率呈负相关。因此，生命早期感染可能“预防”多发性硬化症，相反，当免疫系统部分成熟时的后期感染可能会增加风险。多发性硬化症可能是对儿童期感染的一种年龄依赖性宿主免疫反应。
