Hispanics have minimal participation in research on the disease even though they develop it younger. Less than 1% of studies on multiple sclerosis include the Latino population.
There are 2.8 million people living with the disease worldwide, nearly one million of them in the United States. A large number of Hispanics do not have health insurance because of their immigration status. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has no scientific basis by which Latino patients would be biologically protected against multiple sclerosis, says Dr. Luis Manrique-Trujillo.