http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7622191.stm

The number of people suffering from the neurological disease multiple sclerosis (MS) worldwide could be far more than the estimated 1.3m, researchers say.

Think we've all known this one for a long time huh?

Well, DUH.

Yup! We know that but apparently this is something new to the "expert" statisticians. LOL

"experts" know nothing.

If they did, they would like to get their names in papers

Niko

stats bite, they can be made to say anything, seems you have to read the fine print with stats too, how many are affected by MS or how many have MS,

this shows how professional the news media is or isnt,when it comes to stats,
"1/3 of siu students need to use a calculator for math, blah blah blah, then he ends report with thats right 26 percent of kids need a calculator", so either the stats are not that important, the media doesnt care, or the reporter is a total yutz( i lean towards this one) or the info on stats was incorrect,

I am also at a lost, how they can generalize this illness, it does appear to be a climatically influenced illness, yet they can take the stats for a certain area and apply is in an assuming way, for the rest of the world,

I feel if you ask 1 billion or 500 million then I might take interest, they ask maybe 200,000 or 100,000 out of 6 billion, this does not impress me, sorry Laura I am not a stat fan, didn't mean to side track

Doesn't impress me either Frank. I got a chuckle out of it

Did anyone read that part of that article that says that there's a "stigma" that goes along with MS?? Like some people think it's similar to AIDS, or that people think it's punishment for sins in a past life?

I havent noticed that in my experience...altho, a lot of my friends dont seem to want to talk to me anymore. (as if I have/had a lot of friends. I have two friends, and I havent talked to either of them for months)

I dont tell everyone that I know that I have MS. My friends know, some of my family knows (on my dad's side at least...one relative blabbed to the biggest blabber in the family)

Has anyone felt stigmatized because of their MS??

yeah Erin, and I have posted here and there about it,and so have many others, some folks react you like if they are near you they will get MS, even when I knew naught about MS I knew it wasn't something you got from coughing

That stigma thing, yea got it a couple of times. The worst one was a doctor.

I'm on the hunt for a new OB/GYN since my last one became very rude after I told him I was DX'd. I was like, "grow up, a lot of my other docs, including my dentist, also have other MS patients."

Sadly, this still happens all too often.