Thursday, May 1, 2008

Prozac may slow MS - Dutch study

The popular antidepressant Prozac may help slow multiple sclerosis, according to a Dutch study showing that people who took the drug had fewer of the brain lesions that are a hallmark of the incurable disease.
The findings were from a small study but justified further examination in those afflicted with MS, the researchers reported in one of the British Medical Journal's specialist journals on Thursday.
"This proof-of-concept study shows that (the drug) tends to reduce the formation of new enhancing lesions in patients with MS," Jop Mostert, a neurologist at the University Medical Center Groeningen in the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote.
There is no cure for MS, which affects more than 1 million people worldwide. It is twice as common in women than men with symptoms often first appearing between the ages of 20 and 40.
The disease can be a mild illness in some people while causing permanent disability in others. Symptoms may include numbness or weakness in one or more limbs, partial or complete loss of vision, tingling or pain, electric-shock sensations with certain head movements, tremors and an unsteady gait.

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