How can I find information on a medical condition known as ADEM, which
is similar to multiple sclerosis; I think the first letters stand for
Acute Demyelenizing Encephal...?  Thank you.

Hello ameskid~

ADEM stands for Acute Disseminated Encephal Omyelitis and is a type of
encephalitis. And what is encephalitis? According to the National
Institute of Neueological Disorders and Stroke, encephalitis is
"inflammation of the brain."

There isn't much information out there on the web about ADEM, but
according to Medcyclopaedia, ADEM is a "multifocal white matter
disease which follows a viral illness such as measles, mumps,
pertussis, chicken pox, rubella or infection with the Epstein – Barr
virus. It is an immune response. Children present with drowsiness,
fever, headaches, seizures. It may be a self-limiting condition with
complete recovery or it may progress to coma and death. 10–20% of
patients have persistent neurological symptoms. Pathologically, there
is demyelination and inflammatory infiltrates. The diagnosis is made
on MRI where multiple areas of high signal, seen mainly in the white
matter are seen. They may show enhancement with gadolinium. The spinal
cord may also be involved. The lesions are similar to those of
multiple sclerosis, which is very rare in children, but is
distinguished by the relapsing course of the latter. ADEM lesions,
though often large, do not cause mass effect and will resolve.
Treatment is with steroids." ("Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis,"
Medcyclodaedia, http://www.amershamhealth.com/medcyclopaedia/Volume%20VII/acute%20disseminated%20encephalomyelitis.asp
)
	
To read about encephalitis in general, check out NINDS website at:
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/encmenin_doc.htm

The Mayo Clinic also has a helpful site:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00226

In addition, MEDLINEPlus offers a list of links about encephalitis:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encephalitis.html

To learn more, specifically about the ADEM sort of encephalitis, visit
Contact a Family's website:
http://www.cafamily.org.uk/Direct/a17.html

You might also find this article (available only in Google's cache for
a limited time), about recurrence of ADEM helpful:
 ://www.google.com/search?q=cache:WRVU2OqcrVUC:archneur.ama-assn.org/issues/v58n5/abs/noc00204.html+ADEM+medical+-waste&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
	
Keywords Used:
ADEM medical -waste
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ADEM+medical+-waste&btnG=Google+Search

encephalitis
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=encephalitis&btnG=Google+Search


Best wishes,
kriswrite

I received a helpful basic definition and many useful links for more
information on an uncommon topic.  Thanks.