Recent VA News Releases


        To view and download VA news releases, please visit the following
Internet address:
                        http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel>

        VA Launches Two National Multiple Sclerosis Centers

        WASHINGTON (Dec. 3, 2002) -- Drawing on well-established resources
to provide high-quality care to veterans who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a
chronic neurological disease, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will
establish two Multiple Sclerosis Centers.

        The two MS centers will be created at the Baltimore VA Medical
Center and jointly at the Portland and Seattle VA medical centers to
coordinate the activities of existing programs for MS patients at other VA
sites.  The centers will also improve care, and promote research and
education in MS.

        "VA has excellent resources that should be tapped to improve care,
find effective treatments and pursue a cure for this chronic disease of the
brain and spinal cord," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J.
Principi.  "With MS affecting 350,000 Americans, 22,000 of whom are veterans
enrolled in VA's health care system, the department can make a difference by
providing $8 million for these centers over the next four years."

        Each MS center will conduct research covering basic biomedicine,
rehabilitation, health services delivery and clinical trials.  The two
centers will facilitate access to care for veterans regardless of their
location through advances in telemedicine.

        Operating as a national consortium, the new centers will specialize
in research, education and clinical care, functioning similarly to VA's
Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Centers.

        MS is a chronic, unpredictable neurological disease that affects the
central nervous system.  There is no cure for MS yet, although drugs can
help slow the course of the disease or ease symptoms in some patients.  The
symptoms of MS are highly variable, depending on the areas of the central
nervous system that have been affected.  Initial symptoms of MS often
include difficulty in walking, abnormal sensations such as numbness

        "Taking advantage of VA's strengths as a system of medical
facilities linked through technology with superb academic affiliations will
result in significant progress toward an understanding of MS," said Dr.
Robert Roswell, VA Under Secretary for Health.



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