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15 Neurological Autoimmune Diseases To Know About
Neurological autoimmune diseases cause your immune system to attack your central or peripheral nervous systems. Multiple sclerosis is the most common and well-known, but several of these conditions exist.
Autoimmune diseases cause your immune system to attack your body's healthy cells and tissues rather than infectious or harmful materials.
When your immune system targets your nervous system, it affects the functions of your central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS). This can lead to neurological symptoms.
If you develop sudden or gradual neurological symptoms, it's important to see a doctor.
MS is a chronic and progressive autoimmune condition experts think may be due to a combination of genetic, immune, and environmental factors.
MS treatment primarily focuses on preventing flare-ups and slowing progression and may include immunosuppressive drugs, steroids, and other therapies.
Like MS, NMO is a type of autoimmune disease that affects the CNS. While MS affects the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerve, there is no brain involvement in NMO. It primarily affects the spinal cord and optic nerves.
The exact cause of NMO is unknown, though it typically starts during childhood or later in adulthood, around age 40 years.
Treatment for NMO may involve corticosteroids or immunosuppressant drugs. A doctor may also consider biologics and plasma exchange.
A mild infection can trigger GBS, a rare autoimmune disorder. GBS affects the PNS, leading to symptoms such as tingling, numbness, and weakness. Untreated GBS usually progresses to paralysis.
While about 80% of people with GBS recover, lingering symptoms such as pain and fatigue may continue for years or longer.
AIE is a rare type of inflammation in the brain. However, it's the most common form of noninfectious encephalitis.
Immunosuppressant drugs, monoclonal antibodies, and IVIG are among the possible treatment options for AIE. With early diagnosis and treatment, your outlook with AIE is usually positive, though regular follow-ups are still needed.
CNS vasculitis is a rare type of blood vessel inflammation that affects the CNS. Early symptoms include headaches, forgetfulness, and coordination problems. It mostly affects adult males and peaks at age 50.
Vasculitis itself can cause restricted blood flow in your blood vessels. If this affects the blood vessels in your CNS, you may be at an increased risk of developing brain swelling, paralysis, and stroke.
A doctor may prescribe immunosuppressants or steroids to help treat the underlying inflammation causing CNS vasculitis. This will reduce symptoms and possibly prevent disease progression.
Myelitis is inflammation of the spinal cord. Transverse myelitis is inflammation that affects one level of the spinal cord across both sides of the spinal cord. ("Transverse" means "extending across.")
Transverse myelitis has possible links to neurological conditions like MS. Infections or other autoimmune diseases may also cause it, or it may be idiopathic, meaning its cause is unknown.
Symptoms often come on suddenly and may include:
When left untreated, transverse myelitis may lead to long-term complications, such as permanent paralysis and chronic pain. Some people recover within a few months, while others may experience more progressive forms of this condition.
The optic nerve is responsible for helping you see clearly. If this nerve becomes inflamed, you may experience symptoms such as:
MS is the most common cause of optic neuritis, but it can also occur as part of lupus or other immune disorders.
To help reduce the underlying inflammation, doctors typically treat optic neuritis with corticosteroids.
Meningitis is a serious condition in which the membranes and fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord become inflamed. It's a medical emergency typically due to an infection.
When meningitis lasts for more than 4 weeks, a doctor may diagnose chronic meningitis. Sometimes chronic meningitis has noninfectious causes, such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory conditions, or cancer.
Symptoms of chronic meningitis are similar to those of acute cases caused by bacterial and viral infections. These include:
Treatment for chronic meningitis depends on the underlying cause. It may involve medications to reduce underlying inflammation, autoimmune disease, or infection.
While the exact cause is unknown, a dormant infection often triggers Bell's palsy, and research suggests that it may be due to an autoimmune response.
Symptoms of Bell's palsy often resolve on their own in a few weeks. However, treatments may include steroids, antivirals, Botox, or surgery as a last resort.
Myasthenia gravis (MG) causes immune cells to attack nerve cells that communicate with your skeletal muscles. This can cause muscle weakness and paralysis. Symptoms include:
About 15% to 20% of people with MG may experience a myasthenic crisis, a life threatening condition that occurs when MG affects your breathing.
Treating MG may involve medications, plasma exchange, IVIG, or surgery.
Hashimoto encephalitis is a type of brain inflammation that may be related to Hashimoto thyroiditis. People with Hashimoto encephalitis may have antithyroid antibodies from their immune system.
The exact relationship between these two conditions isn't well established. However, experts do know that the condition is rare, affecting about 2.1 in 100,000 people, mostly adult females, per the National Organization for Rare Disorders.
Symptoms may be progressive, or they can come and go. Possible symptoms include:
Treatment may involve steroids, immunosuppressants, and antiseizure medications.
Experts estimate that between 5% and 10% of people with sarcoidosis develop neurosarcoidosis. Some people do not experience any symptoms. If you do have symptoms, they can vary based on the nerves affected and may include:
Treatment may involve steroids to reduce inflammation, immunosuppressants, or low dose radiation if medications don't help. Some people with neurosarcoidosis may reach remission, while other cases may be progressive.
Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody disease (MOGAD) is a type of autoimmune disease that involves antibody attacks against MOG in your CNS. This can cause disruptions in nerve signals.
In adults, doctors sometimes misdiagnose MOGAD as MS due to similarities in symptoms. These can include symptoms of both optic myelitis and transverse myelitis, such as vision changes, muscle weakness or spasticity, and paralysis.
MOGAD presents differently in children, who are more likely to experience:
There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for MOGAD, though doctors may prescribe certain medications off-label. Acute treatments may include plasma exchange, intravenous steroids, and IVIG.
Neurological autoimmune diseases cause your immune system to attack your CNS or PNS. While the exact underlying causes are unknown, many of these conditions have links to previous infections or other types of autoimmune diseases.
If you think you or a loved one might be experiencing symptoms of a neurological autoimmune disease, it's crucial that you get medical attention. Early diagnosis and treatment may help reduce symptoms and, depending on the condition, help reduce disease progression.
New Studies Show Growing Risk Of Chronic Neurological Diseases Associated With Long COVID
As the US enters the autumn, more than one million Americans continue to be infected with COVID-19 every day, with nearly every state registering high to very high rates of transmission. While transmission has declined slightly in recent weeks, it remains at the highest level for any September of the pandemic.
Modeling these trends, which are based on wastewater data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the PMC COVID-19 Forecasting Model predicts that a trough in infections will arrive in early November before climbing again during the winter holiday season. However, the lull in this scenario will remain a blistering 850,000 infections per day. Indeed, this 9th wave of infections has produced the highest rate of transmission for this time of year, underscoring that the virus that causes COVID is not seasonal and the ongoing pandemic has not set into a predictable pattern that could be described as "endemic."
Graph showing daily new infections in the US based on wastewater modeling. [Photo by Dr. Mike Hoerger]The latest PMC forecast notes:
The year-over-year comparisons suggest that we are experiencing the highest-level of transmission all-time during this time of year. The surge is both high and wide, meaning sustained high levels of transmission... Schools and businesses that lack multilayered mitigation (vaccines, masking, excellent indoor air quality, better-than-CDC isolation guidance, testing) should expect illness and absences.
The authors warned about possible complacency upon entering the slow decline in transmission, noting:
Barring significant retroactive corrections, all evidence suggests that the 9th wave has peaked. However, remember that 50-60 percent of transmission often occurs on the back end of a wave, which is why ongoing mitigation remains important. Expect more than one million new infections per day for almost another month and most of the remaining year.
The fact that these warnings emanate not from the nation's public health agency, but a collaborative organization based at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana—started early in 2020 with the mission of helping reduce COVID transmission—underscores the utter bankruptcy of the CDC and federal and state governments to address the ongoing pandemic.
Fomenting complacency on the one hand, and obscuring the epidemiological landscape through willful omission of relevant clinical data on the other, has been the CDC's primary strategy in ensuring the "forever COVID" policy is normalized and becomes the approach to any present or future threats from communicable diseases. Indeed, the 9th wave of this pandemic is passing without an iota of concern or trepidation on the part of any leading health officials.
A recent post by BNO News noted the complete collapse of pandemic surveillance, stating, "[only] 33 percent of hospitals in the US submitted COVID data this week, down from 91 percent in early May. This means actual case numbers and hospitalizations are substantially higher than reported."
Partial data would indicate that this year more than 360,000 people have been hospitalized for COVID, while over 41,000 have officially died. This is the fifth week in a row with more than 1,000 new COVID deaths in the US. At the current pace it is possible that more than 60,000 people, mainly the eldest and most vulnerable, may officially lose their life to COVID, while more accurate estimates of excess deaths will be far higher.
Compounding this criminal negligence, research into Long COVID is finding disturbing links between the manifestation of chronic debility and the development of chronic neurological diseases. As a recent report in Bloomberg explained,
More than four years after the pandemic began, researchers are recognizing the profound impacts Covid can have on brain health, as millions of survivors suffer from persistent issues such as brain fog, depression and cognitive slowing, all of which hinder their ability to work and otherwise function. Scientists now worry that these symptoms may be early indicators of a coming surge in dementia and other mental conditions, prolonging the pandemic's societal, economic and health burden. [Emphasis added]
While imaging studies conducted early during the COVID pandemic from the brains of COVID patients, even those with mild symptoms, had demonstrated injury consistent with accelerated aging, more recent investigations indicate that the cognitive deficits appear to persist.
In particular, elderly patients who have suffered from severe disease and were hospitalized have shown significant cognitive declines compared to their uninfected spouses, in a follow-up study conducted three years post-infection.
The UK-based study recently published in The Lancet: Psychiatry found at the 2-to 3-year point, a group of elderly COVID survivors had seen their cognitive scores decline significantly across all measured domains, with an average deficit equal to a 10 point drop in their intelligence quotient (IQ). One in nine had severe cognitive deficits equivalent to a 30-point drop in their IQ. A quarter of the study patients had to leave their occupations after having COVID due to poor health associated with cognitive deficits.
Prevalence of severe psychiatric, cognitive, and fatigue outcomes at 2–3 years as a function of recovery at 6 months, based on three predefined clusters of recovery (one per column). [Photo by Taquet, MaximeLone, Nazir et al. / CC BY 4.0]Paul Harrison, one of the co-authors, stated, "The findings show that problems affecting attention and memory, as well as fatigue, depression, and anxiety, continue to afflict some people even three years after COVID-19 infection, especially those who had not recovered well by six months."
It is important to note that these changes were not attributable to aging.
Harrison added, "These results apply only to people who needed acute hospital admission when they had COVID-19. We suspect, but do not know, whether similar kinds of problems might affect the much larger number of people who did not get hospitalized."
People with known neurological diseases like Alzheimer's have shown an acceleration of their memory loss after COVID. Healthy elderly adults face an increased risk of developing new onset dementia after their infections. Even younger people with what is called mild illness may face memory issues and brain fog that worsen during mental exertion or stress which has considerable impact on their ability to work and socialize.
Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) earlier this year found that among nearly 113,000 people who completed an online cognitive assessment, those who had recovered from COVID before four weeks had similar small deficits in their global cognition as those whose symptoms persisted beyond 12 weeks as compared to those who were never infected. Those with persistent symptoms or who were hospitalized demonstrated larger deficits.
While researchers and investigators attempt to elucidate the underlying mechanism for COVID's terrifying pathogenesis, these studies and findings corroborate the ongoing dangers posed by the pandemic. Furthermore, it provides concrete evidence of the utterly criminal character of the "forever COVID" policy that threatens every living person on the planet. Current estimates place the impact of Long COVID at 410 million, or five percent of the planet's inhabitants.
The prevention of COVID is the only feasible solution for this social disease that impacts all of society, and this prevention can only be guaranteed through the fight for a global elimination strategy led by the international working class in close collaboration with trusted scientists.
Join the fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic
Someone from the Socialist Equality Party or the WSWS in your region will contact you promptly.
Brett Favre's Parkinson's: 'Hell, I Wrote The Book On Head Trauma'
Several news items this week put professional football and head trauma back in the spotlight.
On Monday, a study showed that one-third of former National Football League (NFL) players believed they had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
On Tuesday, former NFL quarterback Brett Favre revealed he has Parkinson's disease.
Favre said five specialists told him they believed it was likely due to the hits he suffered while calling signals in the NFL.
"They all said the same thing," he said in an interview with TMZ Sports. "'If it's not in your family' -- and there's none on either side of my family -- 'then the first thing we look at is head trauma.' Well, hell, I wrote the book on head trauma."
The day after Favre's announcement, former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer posted on social media that he had been diagnosed with dementia.
CTE, Parkinson's-like symptoms, and dementia have been associated with repeated head hits. In disorders like Parkinson's and dementia, etiology often is unknown and questions about causality can't be answered easily.
But an abundance of evidence suggests there are links between playing American football or other contact sports -- particularly at the elite level -- and increased risks of developing neurodegenerative diseases, especially CTE, later in life.
"There is a dose-response relationship between the number of years and the level of football played and risk for having CTE neuropathology, as well as for having more severe disease," said researcher Michael Alosco, PhD, of the Boston University CTE Center.
"CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that is triggered by exposure to repetitive head impacts that occur during activities like American football," Alosco told MedPage Today. "It's both the frequency and the intensity of head impacts that are the drivers of the disease."
Historical studies have tied head trauma from boxing to Parkinson's-like features later in life, Alosco noted. "This literature can be dated back to the 1920s," he said. "More recently, there have been increasing efforts to better understand whether repetitive head impacts from American football might influence risk for other neurological conditions besides CTE."
A study in 2023, for example, showed that participating in American football was tied to higher odds of parkinsonism or Parkinson's disease. "Again, the association strengthened as the years and level of play increased," Alosco pointed out. And a 2024 autopsy study showed that nearly 25% of 481 deceased athletes with CTE had parkinsonism symptoms before they died; nearly all had played American football.
Studies of pro soccer players also have tied repetitive head impacts to subsequent brain disorders. In Sweden, for example, elite soccer players had a 46% higher risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia compared with the general population. In Scotland, dementia deaths were greater among former pro players than matched controls.
"We see associations between CTE neuropathology and cognitive symptoms and dementia," Alosco said. "However, dementia in CTE can also be the result of mixed neuropathologies, as it is frequently co-morbid with other brain diseases like Alzheimer's disease or Lewy body disease."
"We are also increasingly seeing a strong link between repetitive head impacts and injury to the white matter," he continued. "We are still in the beginning stages of understanding how repetitive head impacts from American football might influence risk for Parkinson's disease and other neurological conditions."
"We have strong evidence for the relationship between repetitive head impacts and CTE," Alosco observed. "But, do these head impacts increase susceptibility to other brain diseases? Do they occur independent of, or in parallel with, CTE? What are the different pathologies that repetitive head impacts can induce, and why are certain ones triggered in some individuals and not others? Why are some people resilient or resistant to the effects of repetitive head impacts? These are questions we still need to answer."
Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience news for MedPage Today, writing about brain aging, Alzheimer's, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headache, stroke, Parkinson's, ALS, concussion, CTE, sleep, pain, and more. Follow
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