A WOMAN with multiple sclerosis was able to walk again after she was given HIV drugs following a health scare.

Shana Pezaro normally uses a wheelchair but her condition improved so much she was able to walk short distances and climb a flight of stairs.

Her discovery has been used as part of a clinical trial investigating the link between MS, HIV and the drugs used for the virus.

The findings of the study have yet to be published but Ms Pezaro, 36, from Hove, hopes it may provide some answers about the causes and treatment of MS.

She said: “The medication certainly wasn't a miracle cure and I still had MS.

“Every person has a different story so I really hope that the trial and research coming from my experience will provide some insight into what causes the condition.

“Perhaps there are many different causes requiring different treatments and I stumbled across an effective medication for one of them.

“Maybe I was a total one-off and this medication isn't the answer and simply doesn't provide the clue we need.

“But maybe, just maybe, my experience could help to provide an effective treatment for us in the near future.

“The fact remains that when I took those HIV antiretroviral drugs over a 28 day period it had an effect on my symptoms.

“Once I stopped taking the drug, the symptoms came back. Maybe one of the causes of MS is viral, or maybe not, but it is certainly worth a look."

Ms Pezaro was diagnosed with MS when she was 28 but was showing symptoms of the condition as a child.

She does a lot of work raising awareness of MS and provides regular support and advice for other young people with the condition.

She recently travelled to Brussels where she was among the winners of the European Federation of Neurological Associations’ Advocacy Awards for her outstanding work on MS.

Julian Gold, from the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, has been carrying out research into HIV and MS and has been leading the trial.

He had already discovered an association between HIV and MS but his findings involved patients who were already HIV positive.

However Ms Pezaro, who was given the drugs after potentially being exposed to the virus, is not HIV positive, so her findings have added a new element to the professor’s work.

An MS Society spokeswoman said: “Our growing understanding tells us that viruses have a role to play in multiple sclerosis and it will be interesting to see the trial results - positive findings mean another step on the road to beating MS.”