ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS is sometimes called Lou Gehrig's Disease, or Motor Neurone Disease. The prevalence of these terms varies regionally.
| Name | Abbreviation | Places Used |
|---|---|---|
| Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis | ALS | Canada United States |
| Lou Gehrig's Disease | - | United States |
| Motor Neurone Disease | MND | Australia Ireland New Zealand United Kingdom |
The use of multiple distinct names for the same disease makes it more difficult to locate resources on the Internet and in medical publications. Users of social media platforms, such as X (Twitter) often use multiple hashtags to cast a wider net when writing posts about ALS or MND.
Amyotrophic is a term of Greek origin, meaning “no muscle nourishment”.
Lateral refers to the area of the spinal cord where the affected motor neurones are located.
Sclerosis is a term referring to the process of hardening or scarring.
| Amyotrophic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component | a | myo | troph | -ic |
| Meaning | negation; “not” | muscle | food, nourishment | of, or relating to |
Lou Gehrig was a famous American baseball player that was diagnosed with ALS in his mid 30s. Initially, his athletic performance began to gradually decline, before eventually forcing him to retire. Public awareness of the disease increased significantly as a result; many charities and foundations are named after him.
Motor Neurone Disease is a literal term to describe the disease. ALS is a disease of the motor neurons.
The word neuron is spelled two different ways: with and without the trailing “e”. American and Canadian English typically omit the “e”, while other English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand retain the “e”. Countries that use the term Motor Neurone Disease to describe ALS typically include the same “e” at the end.
The English version of ALSWiki.org is written in American English; the spelling for the word neuron always omits the trailing “e”, unless it is part of a proper noun, such as in the name of a UK-based MND organization.
Most languages use an equivalent translation of either Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Motor Neurone Disease.
| Table: names for ALS in languages other than English | ||
|---|---|---|
| Language | Name | Abbreviation |
| Arabic | التصلب الجانبي الضموري (altasalub aljanibiu aldumuriu) |
??? |
| Chinese | 肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症 (Jī wěisuō xìng jǐsuǐ cè suǒ yìnghuà zhèng) |
??? |
| Dutch | Amyotrofe laterale sclerose | ALS |
| French | Sclérose latérale amyotrophique | SLA |
| German | Amyotrophe Lateralsklerose | ALS |
| Italian | Sclerosi laterale amiotrofica | SLA |
| Japanese | 筋萎縮性側索硬化症 (Kin'ishukuseisokusakukōkashō) |
??? |
| Persian | اسکلروز جانبی آمیوتروفیک | ??? |
| Polish | Stwardnienie zanikowe boczne | ALS* |
| Portuguese | Esclerose lateral amiotrófica | ELA |
| Russian | Боковой амиотрофический склероз (Bokovoj amiotroficheskij skleroz) |
БАС |
| Spanish | Esclerosis lateral amiotrófica | ELA |
| Swedish | Amyotrofisk lateralskleros | ALS |
| Turkish | Amyotrofik Lateral Skleroz | ALS |
| Ukrainian | Бічний аміотрофічний склероз (Bichnyj amiotrofichnyj skleroz) |
БАС |
*: Some languages use the letters “ALS” as an abbreviation for the disease, despite the translation for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis using terms that start with different letters.