Today is the day to fight against this degenerative disease of the nervous system.
The Area 2 Hospital of the Tesãi Foundation celebrates on the date the “World Day of the Fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)”, seeking to raise awareness about this disease, joining forces through scientific and medical research to increase the hope of lives of ALS patients.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. It is the third most frequent neurodegenerative disease after dementia and Parkinson’s disease. There is currently no cure for this disease. ALS usually affects adults between the ages of 40 and 70.
ALS symptoms
ALS causes progressive muscle paralysis. Patients quickly see their essential voluntary muscle activity affected, affecting processes as basic as speech, breathing, the ability to eat or walk. Given the progressive and incurable nature of this disease, patients progress to complete paralysis.
Causes
The causes of ALS are unknown. Only between 5 and 10% of cases have a hereditary genetic origin.
Regarding risk factors, the first symptoms of the disease usually appear in the sixth decade of the patient’s life and it affects more men than women.