To treat or not to treat the person with clinical multiple sclerosis--a dilemma.

Disease-modifying therapies for MS are believed to reduce the exacerbation frequency and thus perhaps improve a patient's "quality of life". Increasingly, such therapies are being offered to young persons with relatively mild or very early disease. Concerns about whom to treat, based on knowledge about the role of genetics on "MS risk" and the possible teratogenic effects of disease-modifying treatments on a developing fetus, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]