Science is Fun Fridays!
It has long been suspected, but difficult to prove, that the Epstein-Barr virus is connected to multiple sclerosis. We know that it is the primary cause of mononucleosis and that 95% of adults carry it.
But MS is relatively rare.
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, including numbness and pain to paralysis.
Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School ran an "experiment of nature." Using two decades of blood samples from more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the military, they found about 5% were negative for Epstein-Barr, while 955 eventually developed MS.
They determined that the risk of MS increased 32-fold after infection with Epstein-Barr but not after infection with other viruses.
Immunologists William Robinson and Lawrence Steinman commented: "These findings provide compelling data that implicate EBV as the trigger for the development of MS."
Virologist Jeffrey Cohen says it still needs to be shown that preventing Epstein-Barr will prevent MS, but he agrees these results are dramatic.
A major question remains though, how does the virus lead to disease? This is unknown, but could be due to an autoimmune reaction.
Infection alone is insufficient for an actual diagnosis, of course, and it appears that it would need to combine with other factors such as a genetic disposition, smoking, and Vitamin D deficiency.
But this is a turning point in the fight against MS, and opens a new chapter in trying to find a way to treat and prevent the disease.
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