Prevalence of multiple sclerosis in the Parsis of Bombay

Abstract

We carried out a door-to-door-survey to screen a community of 14,010 people (Parsis living in colonies in Bombay, India) for possible neurologic diseases, and used defined diagnostic criteria to evaluate people who tested positive on the screening survey. There were three clinically definite cases of multiple sclerosis (21/100,000). This is the first prevalence survey for multiple sclerosis in a large developing country.