Multiple sclerosis (MS) currently affects about 1 million people in the United States (US), with an estimated 15,700 people newly diagnosed each year. If the onset of MS could somehow be stopped, or even slowed, the impact would be profound. Can MS be prevented? If so, how? These are questions that some MS researchers are pursuing. Finding answers would mean getting down the root causes of MS, or the initial triggers that start the disease process.