@Sparky: I totally agree that the statistic that 400,000 people have MS is old and needs serious revision. Didn't Congress have a bill before it a few years ago that called for the official tracking of numbers (kind of like they do through the CDC for certain diseases like syphilis etc.?). Obviously it didn't pass. It might be helpful to know how many people have it. The NMSS cites a Reuters article stating that the number of people with MS in the USA has increased by 10% in the last 5 years. So does that mean we are now at 440,000?!

As far as triggers, I agree there have to be many out there. I know the stars aligned for me: I got Epstein Barr 12 months before I was diagnosed, I was severely Vitamin D deficient, a close relative has MS, and I was born in a cold climate. And maybe I had a bad case of food poisoning! All I can say is that I've had more food poisoning events in my life since I've been on Tysabri (suppressed immune system) including one nasty illness that involved a trip to the ER. I had to be wheeled in from so much pain. I now try to avoid dirty restaurants, undercooked meats, and salad bars of any sort.