PNS Demyelinating Disease
This group includes diseases such as:
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: Also known as chronic relapsing polyneuropathy, CIDP causes progressive muscle weakness and affects roughly 5 to 7 out of every 100,000 people.
- Guillain Barré-syndrome (GBS): GBS is an autoimmune disorder in which your immune system attacks the cells of your peripheral nervous system. It is not common, because it affects only about 1 in 100,000 people in the United States.
Causes
In most cases, the exact cause of these disorders is unknown. Scientists are learning more about them, as research is ongoing, but these are somethings they have discovered:
- Multiple sclerosis: The exact cause is still unknown. However, experts suggest that genetic and environmental factors may be responsible. Women are more susceptible to multiple sclerosis.
- Optic neuritis: You are more susceptible to optic neuritis if you already have MS or NMO. In most cases, Infections and other diseases give rise to inflammation of the optic nerve, too. But the exact cause is not yet understood.
- Transverse myelitis: Experts suggest that it could be immune-mediated, or it could be the result of an infection. It sometimes occurs as an early symptom of MS. But it’s estimated that in 16-60 percent of cases, the exact cause isn’t known.
- Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis: Scientists are looking for an exact cause, but they generally believe a vital or bacterial infection is responsible for the inflammation which is a hallmark of the condition. Children are more susceptible to this condition than adults.
- Neuromyelitis optica: It mostly occurs in childhood, but it can also affect adults and is more common in women than in men. Studies show that over 70 percent of diagnosed cases of NMO occur in women.
- Adrenoleukodystrophy: This disorder affects the nervous system and the adrenal glands. It’s an X-linked recessive inherited disease, this implies that it’s caused by a mutation on a gene on the X chromosome. So it is common in men more than women.
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: Some experts suspect that this may be a chronic version of a common form of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) known as acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), which appears to be an autoimmune disorder.
- Guillain-Barré syndrome: Studies suggest that there are four subtypes of GBS, and they are caused by different factors. Infection is a major factor. For example, a recent infection with campylobacter jejuni bacteria seems to cause GBS in about a quarter of people who are diagnosed.