Maps and data on prevalence/incidence of ME Worldwide

[ChrisD]

I'm interested to know how much data can be brought together on the prevalence of ME across the globe. Whether warmer and drier climates have a lower prevalence or whether climate is irrelevant?

Moving to a warmer climate for a while is something on my recovery list, but I have noticed from online forums that there are often patients from places like California/Mexico, Spain/mediterranean, Northern Australia. Still, it would be interesting to see if the ME population of Spain for example equates to the 250k per population of UK or if it is less so.

Of course temperature and humidity are just two factors out of many such as economic wealth, healthcare systems, diet etc.

It would be great to start collecting this data to produce a 'heatmap' of the earth with stats and figures, as it could make a particularly strong point if there wasn't even a correlation between climate and illness incidence - in terms of ME being able to occur anywhere and less of association with Vitamin D/sunlight/depression as some may believe. But thats just one reason, it would be an amazing resource for many reasons.

 

[Wishful]

A map of ME prevalence, or better yet, severity, is a great idea. Actually, prevalence is less important, since there seem to be so many ways to trigger ME. I wouldn't place expectations, such as temperature, but look for anything that affects ME. Maybe there would be a local food, or even a local blood-sucking insect, that affects ME.

As far as climate goes, I haven't found any correlation for my symptoms. It's -36C here this morning, and this cold snap hasn't affected my ME, and neither did the +30's in summer, nor did humidity or day length have a noticeable effect.

If there was a correlation between location and chance of triggering ME, we'd still need a way to figure out who is predisposed to triggering, to know who should move to a 'reduced chance' locale.

 

[roller]

there is such a map of ms apparently, and it was compared to the malaria map.

would be nice to have them all 3 side by side

Med Hypotheses. 2001 Sep;57(3):292-301.
Is multiple sclerosis caused by a silent infection with malarial parasites? A historico-epidemiological approach: part II.
Kissler H.
Abstract
The comparison between the old map of malaria and the later distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) first carried out in the USA (Part I) is continued in Europe. The Italian 'dilemma' (Kurtzke), meaning the disappearance of the north-south gradient in Italy by recent surveys, can be solved when considering the dependence of malaria transmission in relation to the altitude. Further, the high prevalence of MS in earlier times in Mississippi, Louisiana and in the former province of Lucania in Italy can be explained by preceding epidemics of malaria. Brickner's therapeutic trial with quinine in cases of MS patients is reevaluated, and by this the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction is shown to exist in MS too. The possible significance of the old and rather forgotten provocative methods for the diagnosis of latent malaria is discussed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11516219