Demyelinating disease

A demyelinating disease is any diseaseof the nervous systemin which the myelinsheath of neuronsis damaged. This impairs the conduction of signals in the affected nerves, causing impairment in sensation, movement, cognition, or other functions depending on which nerves are involved.

The term describes the effect of the disease, rather than its cause; some demyelinating diseases are caused by infectiousagents, some by autoimmunereactions, and some by unknown factors. Organo-phosphates, a class of chemicals which are the active ingredients in commercial insecticides such as sheep dip, weed-killers, and flea treatment preparations for pets, etc, will also demyelinate nerves.

Demyelinating diseases include multiple sclerosis, transverse myelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.

fr:Démyélinisation

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demyelinating+disease Wikipedia article Demyelinating disease.