MS in infants is a rarity. We are more used to hearing about MS in adults of reproductive age. So any mention of multiple sclerosis in infants is bound to raise a lot of questions.
The average person is bound to want to know since when infants were capable of being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He or she is also going to want to know how exactly doctors would go about diagnosing MS in infants. Many of the symptoms of MS would be difficult to identify in infants. For instance, how would one be able to tell for certain that an infant had weak leg muscles if the infant was not quite at the age where crawling was the norm? Another example has to do with incontinence. How would one be able to know that an infant had no control over its bladder if the said infant was in diapers and had not yet been toilet-trained?
Some Symptoms of MS in Infants
Clearly, then, anybody who wanted to diagnose multiple sclerosis in infants would have to look out for specific signs and symptoms whose existence could be verified. Some of these would have to be MS symptoms that were unique to infants (that is to say, not likely to occur in adults). They would include seizures, which are sudden involuntary convulsions experienced over and over again. Infants experiencing such seizures would have involuntary contractions of their muscles and could easily lose consciousness. Some of them would run the risk of suffering obstruction in the trachea, but this last symptom is not something that a caring parent would sit by and passively wait to witness. Any parent whose child suffered a seizure would be well advised to seek emergency medical treatment immediately.
It is important to note that MS is not the only possible cause of seizures in infants. Various genetic disorders would result in the development of the same symptoms, as would inflammation of the brain. So would insufficient oxygen and vitamin B6 deficiency. So parents whose children experienced seizures would need to consult a neurologist. This specialist would be qualified to rule out various possible causes and to ultimately determine whether MS was the culprit.
Another possible symptom of MS in babies is numbness. Damage to the nervous tissue could very easily affect an infant’s sense of touch. The infant in question would not respond when touched in the affected area. As before, this symptom may actually be an indicator of something else, so it is not, in itself, conclusive.
