Does having multiple sclerosis make you immunocompromised?

Being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease like multiple sclerosis (MS) can make you rethink the lifestyle you lead and your overall health. This can also raise questions about how your immune system is functioning and your ability to fight infection.

In this blog we’ll cover how MS can affect your immune system, what can leave you immunocompromised and ways you can reduce the risk of infection.

What does being immunocompromised mean?

Being immunocompromised means that the body’s natural defences are weakened, increasing your risk of getting infections and diseases.

MS is where the body attacks the brain and spinal cord (nervous system) which is not the immune system itself, but this does not mean to say that MS cannot impact it.

How MS affects your immune system

The innate immune system is made up of our skin, mucous membranes, cells, and proteins which act as our body’s first line of defence against germs and other substances that may be harmful to us. When a virus attacks us, our body’s immune system reacts by creating proteins and antibodies to fight it.

These constituent parts of our immune systems work in isolation and collaboratively to protect us from attacks by infections, colds, and viruses, also helping us to recover should we become infected. People who have compromised immune systems will be more susceptible to picking up viruses and infections, also experiencing more difficulty in fighting them off.

This is generally not an issue for MSers as their immune systems aren’t weakened, meaning the ability to fight off viruses isn’t usually affected. However, the methods of treating MS can lead to a suppressed immune system.

How MS treatments can compromise your immune system

Disease Modifying Therapies (DMTs)

Some DMTs can impact your body’s way of fighting off infection. These drugs work by suppressing the effects of MS, such as reducing symptom severity and relapse frequency by interrupting or blocking cells that are thought to be a cause within your body. However, they do in turn suppress your immune system’s functionality which can lead to you becoming immunocompromised.

This compromise of the immune system comes from DTMs immunosuppressive qualities which can include things like a reduction in white blood cells and being more susceptible to opportunistic infections (ones a healthy immune system would fight off without an issue).

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)

HSCT is a treatment that will affect your immune system. The process involves replacing a person’s bone marrow with the objective to essentially hard reset the body’s immune system. This process aims to prevent the body attacking its own nervous system, but the trade-off here is that going through this procedure requires rounds of chemotherapy which will wipe it out.

There is a requirement of going through a quarantine to prevent a deadly infection until your body can defend itself again.

After completing HSCT treatment you begin to rebuild your immune system, often by catching colds and viruses again like you would when you were young.  You can find out more about this treatment by reading our HSCT Choices information booklet.

Things you can do to reduce risk

While the risk of infections can be greater whilst taking treatment for MS, there are methods you can use to reduce risk.

Firstly, keeping up with vaccinations is an essential way of protecting yourself from infections. Things such as the flu jab and any others that you may need to keep on top of can make a big difference in preventing infections becoming worse.

If you’re on DMTs to manage your MS, then it is recommended that you don’t take live vaccines but rather inactive ones. This is because if your immune system is weakened then the likelihood of the disease developing is larger from a vaccine that has the live disease within (it’s best to check with whoever is giving you the vaccine about this before going ahead). Whilst this is the case, there has been no evidence for inactive vaccines directly causing relapses nor increasing the risk of complications for people with MS so protecting yourself in this way won’t affect your MS short term.

You can also just practice good hygiene, such as washing your hands regularly and being wary of what you touch. It might be handy to keep anti-bac with you too when you’re out and about.

In conclusion, immunosuppression and in turn being immunocompromised is quite a complex topic which we’ve only really touched on in this blog. Hopefully now you’ve come to realise that MS itself isn’t the culprit but rather what’s used to manage symptoms.

If you’re interested in learning more about some of the things we’ve mentioned in this blog, then take a look below at our linked resources. We’re sure the information on DMTs, HSCT, and a real-life example of James and Alison’s HSCT journey will be very valuable.