HIV may help prevent multiple sclerosis

Scientists said on Monday they had statistical evidence to back a novel theory that infection by the AIDS virus may reduce the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). Patients in England who were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were mathematically far less likely to develop MS than the general population they found. MS is a progressive disease of the brain and central nervous system in which the immune system goes haywire, attacking a fatty insulative sheath around nerve fibres. In 2011, doctors reported on the case of a 26-year-old Australian man who was diagnosed with MS several months after being confirmed as having HIV.