Protective environmental factors for neuromyelitis optica

Jennifer Graves1, Siri Grandhe2, Kelley Weinfurtner2

  • 1From the Department of Neurology (J.G., K.W., E.W.), University of California, San Francisco; Virginia Commonwealth Medical School (S.G.); Lourie Center for Pediatric MS (L.K., A.B.), Stony Brook Children's Hospital, NY; Partners MS Center (T.C.), Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Harvard Medical School; UAB Center for Pediatric Onset Demyelinating Disease (J.N.), Children's Hospital of Alabama; Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center (B.W.-G.), Jacobs Neurological Institute, SUNY Buffalo, NY; Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis and Related Diseases Program (M.G.), Boston Children's Hospital, MA; Mayo Clinic's Pediatric MS Center (M.P., M.R.), Rochester, MN; Blue Bird Circle Multiple Sclerosis Center (T.L.), Texas Children's Hospital, Houston; Pediatric MS Center at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital (G.A.), CA; Multiple Sclerosis Center (E.M.M.), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Department of Pediatrics (J.W.R., T.S., T.C.C.), University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (J.J.), Oklahoma City; and Department of Pediatrics (E.W.), UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Jennifer.Graves@ucsf.edu.

Neurology
|October 24, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Early childhood exposure to daycare and breastfeeding may protect against neuromyelitis optica (NMO) in children. Unlike multiple sclerosis (MS), NMO risk is not linked to common herpes virus infections.

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