Multiple Sclerosis: A History of Vikings, Scots, Germs, and Genes
by M.M. Drymon
Multiple sclerosis, abbreviated here to MS, is a complex disease of the brain and spinal cord that has a modern history of human misery. Its roots lie somewhere in a tumultuous historical past amid the heather and hills of Highland Scotland and on the longboats of the Vikings. Although causation is yet to be determined, MS seems to be associated with both genes and germs.
In MS patients, inflammation creates a series of scar-like plaques at multiple places in the brain and spinal cord where the myelin covering of nerve cells have been destroyed. These plaques interfere with the normal function of nerve cells and cause the symptoms of MS. Early symptoms can include tingling, numbness, loss of balance, weakness in one or more limbs and blurred or double vision. As the disease progresses, other symptoms may include muscle spasms, sensitivity to heat, fatigue, and changes in thinking or perception. It is a disease that usually strikes when a person has reached full adulthood-sometime between the ages of 20 and 50. Symptoms can wax and wane with periods of symptom free relapse in between. No cures have been discovered for this disease, although some medications have been found to be effective in relieving symptoms.
Although there is no concrete proof that MS is a genetic or hereditary disease, having a first degree relative, such as a parent or a sibling, with MS increases an individual's risk of developing MS to a level much higher than the risk for the general population. Some studies show a higher prevalence of certain genes in certain populations with high rates of MS. Since the 1970s, scientists have been aware of a very strong association between MS and the genes that control immune cell function, known as HLA.[This HLA susceptibility has also been recognized in people who suffer from Lyme induced arthritis] HLA proteins are found on the surface of all body cells. They act as a signal to the immune system to confirm that the cell is part of the body and should not be attacked. In the case of MS and Lyme arthritis, it is likely that subtle changes in the structure and function of HLA cause it to malfunction.
It is estimated that between 1.11 and 2.5 million people are affected with MS throughout the world, predominantly in temperate climates. Research has found an association between living in northern latitudes during early childhood and MS incidence. Moving to an area where there is more sunlight later in life is not protective. New research, which has discovered that Vitamin D plays an important role in fighting infections, may underscore what happens to MS patients in childhood. Deprived of sunlight as a child, they may become infected with a chronic form of a disease agent that then spends decades at work before the plaques become destructive enough to cause symptoms. A genetic influence here could conceivably come through variants in the Vitamin D receptor protein or in other proteins that are activated when Vitamin D binds to this receptor. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that Vitamin D is crucial to activating the immune defenses and that without sufficient intake of the vitamin, the killer cells of the immune system - T cells - will not be able to react to and fight off serious infections in the body. For T cells to detect and kill foreign pathogens such as clumps of bacteria or viruses, the cells must first be 'triggered' into action and 'transform' from inactive and harmless immune cells into killer cells that are primed to seek out and destroy all traces of the foreign pathogen. The researchers found that the T cells rely on vitamin D in order to activate and will remain dormant if vitamin D is lacking in the blood.
A good case study for an infective history for MS can be made by an examination of a cluster of MS that has occurred on the Faroe Islands. Located in the North Atlantic midway between Norway, Scotland and Iceland, the inhabitants of these small islands are the descendants of Nordic adventurers who settled down there in around 900 AD. There had been no reports of MS occurrence among native born residents prior to 1943. After that year, 25 cases of MS occurred in three distinct clusters prior to 1973. The most interesting event that took place on the Faroes at around that time was the British occupation during WWII. Most of the occupying soldiers came from the Scottish Highlands. It seems that they brought with them whatever causes MS in Scotland and spread it to the previously uninfected Faroenese people. This speaks clearly to an infective agent as a causative agent. The genetic factor may be something organic that affects the thickness or resilience of the lining of the nerve sheaths which, like red hair or light colored eyes, would be hereditary. A study of the skin thickness of redheads, for example, shows that they are indeed "thin skinned" when compared to people with darker hair. This may translate inwardly into thinner interior mechanisms like myelin . Thick nerve sheaths may be more resistant to viral or bacterial damage.(Hakes 2002]
The highest MS rates in the world are found in northern areas, the highest being in the Orkney and Shetland Islands of Scotland. Highland Scotland has the next highest risk of all with a prevalence rate of 1 case for every in 500 people in the population. There are also high prevalence rates in Canada, New Zealand, and Southeast Australia, where a large number of Celtic Scots emigrated in the 18th and 19th centuries.[www.msif.org] One study concluded that "Scottish Ancestry appears to be a risk factor for the development of MS, and this may explain the high prevalence of the disease in countries in which there are significant numbers of Scottish migrants." (P.M. Rothwell, D. Charlton 1998) This risk factor may be genetic or it may lie in the viruses and bacteria present in Scotland that they brought with them when they moved around. Scotland has a long history of sending its people out into the world through land clearances, emigration, and the mercenary soldier tradition. Scottish soldiers, sometimes called Gallowglass, interacted with almost every country in Europe, fought in every Crusade, served in the forces of King Gustav Adolphus of Sweden and throughout Scandinavia. Though initially they were mercenaries, over time some of them settled down and intermarried with the people that had hired them, leaving a Scottish presence and a penchant for plaid throughout the world.
The Scandinavian countries also have high rates of MS. The areas of the northern US that have high MS rates tend to be settled by Scandinavian immigrants, especially Minnesota. C.M. Poser, a Harvard professor, looked at this link between areas of Scandinavian descent and MS and thought about the Vikings. When he looked at Viking history, he found that the Vikings did more that just terrorize Northern Europe-they and their descendants spread throughout most of the known world. He used the examples of Viking carvings in a mosque in Istanbul and on a statue outside Athens. There was a Viking regiment in the Chinese Emperors Imperial Guard in the 1300's and in the service of the Eastern Roman Empire 300 years earlier, and also in the Crusades. Wherever the Vikings went in the world there seems to be more MS.
He cited the test case of Palestinian Arabs living in Kuwait. They have about two and a half times more MS than the Kuwaiti Arabs. Historically Palestinians originated near Jerusalem-an area of biblical conflict and subject to interaction with Europeans during the Crusades. To find evidence of Viking contact, Poser looked at eye color. He found that 62% of the Palestinian Arabs with MS had blue or hazel eyes, whereas 78% of all Kuwaiti Arabs had black or brown eyes. He found this suggestive of Viking descent. He also found hot spots of MS in the Canary Islands and the Parsee in India- he feels that the Vikings may have made contact there, also.(Poser 1994)
An overlay of a map of the Viking sphere of influence on top of a map of modern occurrence rates for MS does produce a remarkable fit. Australia and New Zealand were later colonies that were populated by Celtic felons who may have had some Viking originated genes in their DNA. But if this disease has a genetic base and was spread by the Vikings, the question becomes what genes are they? A Viking was a member of a very diverse group with a set of similar technologies, religious beliefs, and willingness to go out raiding, but with no homogeneous genetic base. Dominantly Norse, they did not have a strict gene code for marriage. Modern Scandinavians, especially Finns, show a great deal of genetic differences. All have high levels of MS.
Iceland is a particularly interesting case because of its high rate of MS and the fact that it has been well studied in a human genome database project run by deCODE. This study found that despite the fact that it was founded 1100 years ago and Norse Sagas historical interpretations of profound Norse-ness, the population may have more variation than the modern country of France, and that there was a significant Celtic-Scottish genetic presence, varying from ¼ to just under ½ of the original settlers.(Stefansson 2000 and Trivedi 2000.) Based on this information, if the Viking spread the genes for MS, they may have come from this interrelationship with the Scots in the northern areas of what is modern Scotland.
Another, perhaps more compelling argument, comes from the scientists who argue that MS is caused by a virus, a bacteria, or a combination of both. But which ones? There are many good candidates. In The Virus Within, by Nicholas Regush, evidence is presented that indicated that a Human Herpes Virus, HHV-6, has been found in the lesions in brain tissue samples of MS victims. The Epstein Barr virus has also been found to inhabit these Plesions. As early as 1957, Time Magazine reported that researchers had found Spirochaeta myelophthora in spinal fluid of an MS patient. Chlamydia pneumoniae has been found in the spinal fluid of some MS patients. Derek Gay argued in a 1986 Lancet article that the disease was caused by an oral spirochete. A significant association of spinal fluid cysts and MS was identified in a small study among residents in a coastal area of southern Norway. The cysts could be of spirochetal origin. Megan Blewatt has found a statistically highly significant geographical correlation between Lyme disease and MS in the United States, the correlation between MS and Lyme was highly significant, producing a p-value of 0.010. Spastic Paraparesis, which is a differential diagnosis of MS, is a known retro virus. New viruses occur on a worldwide basis. There are many ways for a virus to become more virulent. Changes can occur through mutation or they can swap a gene within a single segment to be recombinant, thus creating new forms. Viruses that were there all along may emerge as problems only when their hosts undergo an increase in susceptibility or there can be environmental effects that make a virus more virulent. An example of this would be acquiring a suppressed immune response or, in the case of MS, just simply, through better nutrition and control of deadly disease, living long enough for myelin damage to cause symptoms. (Oldstone 1998).
Whatever causes MS, it has been around for eons- a stealth invader that unlike the Black Plague or the English Sweating Sickness, didn't kill or disable its hosts. It was able to live, reproduce happily, and spread to new host bodies without even being noticed. However, when the human lifespan began to increase, instances of people with MS- like symptoms begin to appear in the historical record. A possibly infected young woman named Halldora appears fleetingly in the Icelandic Sagas from around the year 1200. The earliest well documented case is from 1400 when Lydwina of Schieden-the Dutch Patron Saint of Ice Skaters-symptoms were described. (www.mult-sclerosis.org) As time went on, the fact that people began to live longer changed the playing field. Life spans became longer as better nutrition, antibiotics and medical progress worked their magic. If we think of the effects of MS as the work of an infective agent, slowly, patiently, gnawing away at the delectable myelin sheaths of a host's nervous system, a few thing stand out in its progression. MS is a disease that rarely shows its presence before full adulthood. It works in a slow inconsistent manner coming and going until it fully sets in. By that time the patient has lived part of a life, had children, and possibly spread the infective agent around a bit. The French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot was the first person to label multiple sclerosis as a distinct disease in 1868. Summarizing previous reports and adding his own clinical and pathological observations, Charcot called the disease sclerose en plaques.
To a Viking or even an early Highland Scot, MS would be a disease of old age. The presence of an infective agent or genes for susceptibility would not have had a huge impact on their culture but would have been as much a part of their legacy as the ideas, artwork, runes, and descendants that they left behind.
