The 21st Conference on Multiple Sclerosis opened in Thessaloniki today with the participation of 3,500 delegates organized jointly by the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) and the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS).

In this year's conference have been invited to participate among others 70 distinguished neurologists and neuroscientists from Europe, the United States and Canada.

According to conference president and neurology professor in Thessaloniki's Aristotle University Ioannis Milonas, an estimated 2.5 million people around the world suffer from multiple sclerosis an illness that afflicts more often people 20-30 years old.

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system and one of the most common neurological diseases observed in young adults. It rarely appears in children and after the age of 50. It is an autoimmune disease meaning that the body's natural defenses are actually attacking its own myelin (=the nerve insulating material).

New drugs and new treatment methods will be presented in the conference.