Epstein-Barr Virus Found to Trigger Multiple Sclerosis

[Klaralven]

A connection between the human herpesvirus Epstein-Barr and multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been suspected but has been difficult to prove. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the primary cause of mononucleosis and is so common that 95 percent of adults carry it. Unlike Epstein-Barr, MS, a devastating demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, is relatively rare. It affects 2.8 million people worldwide. But people who contract infectious mononucleosis are at slightly increased risk of developing MS. In the disease, inflammation damages the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells, ultimately disrupting signals to and from the brain and causing a variety of symptoms, from numbness and pain to paralysis.

To prove that infection with Epstein-Barr causes MS, however, a research study would have to show that people would not develop the disease if they were not first infected with the virus. A randomized trial to test such a hypothesis by purposely infecting thousands of people would of course be unethical.

Instead researchers at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School turned to what they call “an experiment of nature.” They used two decades of blood samples from more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the U.S. military (the samples were taken for routine HIV testing). About 5 percent of those individuals (several hundred thousand people) were negative for Epstein-Barr when they started military service, and 955 eventually developed MS. The researchers were able to compare the outcomes of those who were subsequently infected and those who were not. The results, published on September 13 in Science, show that the risk of multiple sclerosis increased 32-fold after infection with Epstein-Barr but not after infection with other viruses. “These findings cannot be explained by any known risk factor for MS and suggest EBV as the leading cause of MS,” the researchers wrote.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/epstein-barr-virus-found-to-trigger-multiple-sclerosis/

[turbinetree]

1. The code breakers.....amazing....

[SharonAnn]

2. Thanks. This is very interesting.

[CountAllVotes]

3. Severe case of mononucleosis

That was me at the age of 16. It was so severe that a semester of school was missed and I was too tired to go to physical education. My blood work showed an extremely high white count. I was sick!

The overwhelming sense of fatigue I was hit with never really went away.

It was several years later that I began to fall and many other symptoms began to emerge for which no explanation could be found.

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis some 10+ years later.

I still have the debilitating fatigue that goes with it.

Why are they saying this now? I heard this years ago that there was a link between the Epstein-Barr and M.S.

[murielm99]

7. How is your mobility?

Are you able to work, and take care of the daily business of living?

I am truly sorry that you have this condition.

[Sgent]

9. They had theorized

a link previously but this study looked to show (and seems to have succeeded) that EBV is a prerequisite for MS. About 97% of the population has EBV, so obviously there is more to it, but this is a fairly heavy plank in the fence.

[MyOwnPeace]

4. I lost my wife to MS 12 years ago......

I pray daily for a cure to save others from the pain of the disease and the pain that others suffer for their loved ones......

[LoisB]

5. 🙏 I join you in your prayers.

I am so sorry.

[MyOwnPeace]

6. Aw, thanks!

Let's just forward those prayers on to those that will benefit from them. It is an insidious disease that one would have hoped at one time a 'great country' could 'gather the best' and find a cure.
After the way the 'anti-science' mob has taken a strong arm as to how our government works*, I ache for all of those that suffer.


*example: Stem cell research has shown promise regarding this particular disease. G.W. Bush, under pressure from the "Conservative Right," blocked all funding for government support of stem cell research. That was 15-20 years ago. Who knows where medical science would be now if they had been able to continue.

[uponit7771]

8. GOOD NEWS !! Also, am I the only one who saw "Epstein-Barr" and thought ....

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Hmmmm!

I got diagnosed with MS in 1995. (Got the call about MRI results the day those 2 lunatics blew up the Murrah building.)
Caught it early, so I've have a VERY mild case all this time.
Got on interferon therapy for nearly 20 years, and have not had a relapse in 25 years.
Since exposure to mono is so prevalent (95% per the article) I wonder if this could have been what triggered it for me.
Very interesting.