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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gerhig’s Disease is a neurological disease that affects as many as 30,000 Americans, and with 5,000 new cases occurring in the United States each year. It is a degenerative fatal disease that weakens and destroys motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain, preventing them from sending impulses to muscles. The nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord gradually deteriorate, which cause the muscles they control to weaken, leading to paralysis. People with ALS usually present difficulty with speaking and swallowing and become paralyzed. They often require ventilation and gastrostomy, surgery to provide a new opening in the stomach. The loss of respiratory function is usually the cause of death. Approximately 60,000 people worldwide suffer from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS occurs throughout the world without any racial or ethnic boundaries. Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70, although the disease can occur at a younger age. Males are more likely to develop the disease then females and there is an unexplained increase of ALS in Guam and certain areas of Japan. The incidence of ALS is five time times higher than Huntington’s disease and about equal to multiple sclerosis.
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