title: Multiple sclerosis and canine distemper encephalitis--an epidemiological approach.
abstract: The evolution of the incidence of canine distemper encephalitis in dogs in some areas of Switzerland over the past 30 years was studied from the neuropathological records of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Berne and compared with the incidence of multiple sclerosis, as estimated from the clinical records of the Neurologic Hospital at the same University. Even considering incubation times of up to 10 years no epidemiological relationship was found between the diseases. Whereas canine distemper encephalitis has become a rare disease since the second half of the sixties, the multiple sclerosis rate has remained approximately the same. In view of these findings, a causal link between canine distemper infection in dogs and multiple sclerosis in man seems unlikely.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004216:Distemper / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004285:Dogs; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013557:Switzerland