ABSTRACT
Many immune-mediated diseases and infections affect the central and peripheral nervous systems. The common feature that characterizes both immune-mediated diseases and infections is a subacute temporal profile. Immune-mediated disease can affect only the nervous system or involve the nervous system as part of a systemic illness, as in vasculitis and connective tissue disease (Table 13.1). Multiple sclerosis, the most common disabling neurologic illness of young people, is the prototypical immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system. The availability of diseasemodifying treatments for multiple sclerosis emphasizes the importance of accurate diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.
