Effects of COVID-19 on Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is a disease known to disable the functionality of both the brain and the spinal cord. In Multiple sclerosis, the immune system of an individual is known to attack the protective sheath (myelin) that is used in covering the nerve fibers. This in turn leads communication failures between the brain and the body in general. In the long run, the disease can lead to permanent damage of the body nerves (Sospedra& Martin, 2005). In Multiple sclerosis, the signs and symptoms vary from one person to the other depending on the level of damage caused to the nerves. Coronavirus Disease 2019 also known as COVID-19 is a respiratory disease which is communicable through infected air droplets from the infected people. The disease is said to be reported on December 2019 in Wuhan, China (Huang et al., 2020). The disease just like Multiple sclerosis has no known cure. COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus that has taken almost the whole world by surprise. The disease is mainly known to affect those individuals suffering from other complicated like diabetes and respiratory diseases such as asthma. Since the coronavirus disease is considered a new strain of virus, there is limited knowledge on how much effect it will have on patients suffering from Multiple sclerosis.