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Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 10:59:18 -0400
From: "Eddie Bollenbach" <edward.bollenbach @ snet.net>
| "Polio is NOT a form of ALS." |
ALS [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis] is an unrelenting destruction of lower and giant upper motor neurons in the brain. It is malignant and ends in death. No one knows the cause.
Get more ALS info from the ALS Assoc. Post-Polio Syndrome [PPS] only happens in people who had polio. It is a very slowly progressing phenomenon. It is likely to be initiated by secondary factors, all of which have not been clearly shown. Possibilities include overuse, genetic factors, hormonal factors, virus persistence or secondary virus infection, and so on. The reason why we all don't get PPS may be because of the different ways that initial recovery from polio expressed itself and the durability of that recovery. Or, it may be a cytomegalovirus [herpes-type virus] or some other virus infection that a proportion of the population get but with previous polio damage it becomes a serious factor. (I'm speculating here because of the recent viral reports about CFS [Chronic Fatigue Syndrome] ). We don't know the exact cause. Polio does not affect the giant motor neurons in the brain (upper motor neurons) which, if destroyed result in death.
Polio is NOT a form of ALS.
Eddie
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