Multiple sclerosis (MS) Scholarships

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Today more than 2.8 million people around the world have MS.

MS is an inflammatory demyelinating condition. This means it is caused by damage to myelin – a fatty material that insulates nerves, acting much like the covering of an electric wire. Myelin allows a nerve to transmit its impulses rapidly. It is the speed and efficiency with which these impulses are conducted that permits smooth, rapid and co-ordinated movements to be performed with little conscious effort.

In MS, the loss of myelin (demyelination) is accompanied by a disruption in the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain. This produces the various symptoms of MS. The sites where myelin is lost (plaques or lesions) appear as hardened (scar) areas: in multiple sclerosis these scars appear at different times and in different areas of the brain and spinal cord. The term multiple sclerosis means ‘many scars’.

MS symptoms vary widely and include blurred vision, weak limbs, tingling sensations, unsteadiness and fatigue. For some people, MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission while, for others, it has a progressive pattern. For everyone with MS, it makes life unpredictable.