Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects your brain and nervous system. Currently, about 1 million people in the United States have MS. As with many progressive and chronic diseases, like diabetes or COPD, people with MS are at higher risk of contracting infections, which also puts them at higher risk of developing sepsis.
Sepsis, which was often called blood poisoning, is the body’s life-threatening response to infection or injury. Like strokes or heart attacks, sepsis is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment.
Sepsis and septic shock can result from an infection anywhere in the body, such as pneumonia, influenza, or urinary tract infections. Worldwide, one-third of people who develop sepsis die. Many who do survive are left with life-changing effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain and fatigue, organ dysfunction (organs that don’t work properly), and/or amputations.
It used to be believed that people with MS got more infections because the medications for MS lower a person’s immune response to viruses, bacteria, and fungi. While this is true, a study published in 2020 found that people diagnosed with MS had more infections than their peers without MS around the time they were diagnosed, before they started taking medications. The most common ones were urinary tract and kidney infections, as well as influenza, pneumonia, and other respiratory infections.
With the increase of infections comes an increase in hospitalizations, almost three times as often compared with peers who do not have MS.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease where nerve fibers, called myelin, are destroyed. No one knows yet what causes MS, but it is considered to be an autoimmune disorder as your immune system attacks the myelin. Your body needs these fibers to transmit messages within the central nervous system (CNS). These messages allow your brain to tell your body to do things, like use your finger to push an elevator button or your leg to take a step.
As the damage to the fibers progress, scar tissue remains, blocking further transmissions.
The most common types of MS are:
Anyone can get MS, but it is most frequently diagnosed among people who:
Multiple sclerosis symptoms are quite subtle at first, to the point that it is easy to brush them off as a one-off thing, or due to stress. They include:
Currently, there is no cure for MS and medications work to slow down how quickly it progresses. The medications, such as steroids, increase your risk of contracting an infection. This is why people with MS should be watchful for any signs or symptoms of an infection of any kind.
If you do have an infection, speak to your doctor right away or go to an urgent care clinic or emergency room. And if you show any signs of sepsis, be sure to say, “I’m concerned about sepsis.”
Would you like to share your story about sepsis or read about others who have had sepsis? Please visit Faces of Sepsis, where you will find hundreds of stories from survivors and tributes to those who died from sepsis.
Suggested Citation: Sepsis Alliance. Sepsis and Multiple Sclerosis. 2023. https://www.sepsis.org/sepsisand/multiple-sclerosis/
Posted July 6, 2023.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects your brain and nervous system. Currently, about 1 million people in the United States have MS. As with many progressive and chronic diseases, like diabetes or COPD, people with MS are at higher risk of contracting infections, which also puts them at higher risk of developing sepsis.
