Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Pet Exposure

Abstract

To the Editor: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been linked to exposure to animals in two case–control studies: Hanisch et al. found that patients had had increased exposure to animal carcasses and hides,¹ and Reed and Brody observed increased exposure to farm animals among cases in Guam.² These findings and recent studies linking multiple sclerosis with pet exposure^{3 4 5} prompted us to conduct a study of animal exposure in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.Forty consecutive patients from a Mount Sinai Hospital clinic and 40 matched controls were interviewed with regard to exposure to household pets, animal carcasses and hides, and farm . . .