http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=health&id=3945451

Seven's On Call
WABC By Dr. Jay Adlersberg

(New York-WABC, February 27, 2006) - A devastating adult illness is now being seen as a growing problem in children.
Seven's On Call with Dr. Jay Adlersberg and doctors have started programs to find out more.

The disease is Multiple Sclerosis -- a nervous system disorder. It's seen in young and middle aged adults, and it's a disease that has a lot of variations -- at its extreme, it's disabling and life threatening.

Now, around the country, researchers are beginning a huge initiative to find out more about MS in kids.

Allison Tepedino and Lee Gonsalves both have ms. For both children, the first symptom was a loss of vision. The diagnosis was hard to believe.

Sonia Gonsalves, mother of child with ms: "I didn't know what the word was ... I never heard it before."

Celeste Tepedine, mother of child with ms: "Whenever you talk to friends, they say ms is an adult disease. She doesn't have ms. Adults do not realize that kids can get ms. People don't realize children can get ms.

But they can. It's a difficult diagnosis in which other illnesses must first be ruled out. Researcher Dr. Lauren Krupp says children present a special challenge in diagnosis because they may not always tell their parents what is going on -- or be taken seriously when they do.

Dr. Krupp, Stony Brook University Hospital: "And then finally sometimes the doctors don't really incorporate what is being told to them from the point of view of ms. It's not a diagnosis most pediatricians have ever come across."

For this and other reasons, Stony Brook University Hospital recently opened one of the six new childhood ms research centers, which opened around the country. They're funded by the MS Society and have goals of treating, educating and learning more about ms.

We asked Dr. Krupp why more childhood ms is being recognized now and she cited both technology and available treatments. Diagnosis has been made easier and more treatment options have become available.