Multiple sclerosis: Indian experience in the last thirty years.

A total of 354 cases of multiple sclerosis (MS) were collected from various published reports from India over the last three decades. MS is definitely an uncommon disease in India. Certain clinical characteristics, previously noted individually, have been confirmed to exist in India. When compared to MS in Western countries, the Indian cases show a relatively high incidence of optic nerve involvement (both at the onset and during the course of the disease). Neuromyelitis optical is also seen more frequently. MS may be more common in northern as compared to southern India. In isolated studies HLA-B12 has been reported to be associated with MS in India and positive CSF oligoclonal bands have been seen in only 30% of the cases.