Scientists hope this study—which strongly links multiple sclerosis with Epstein-Barr virus—will spur the development of a vaccine against EBV.
One hundred and fifty years after a French neurologist first recognized a case of multiple sclerosis in a young woman with an unusual tremor, the cause of this devastating disease remains elusive. Now, a study that combed data from regular blood tests of 10 million U.S. soldiers has found the strongest evidence yet that infection with a common virus, Epstein-Barr virus , dramatically increases a person’s chances of developing the rare disease.
MS develops when immune cells go awry and attack the myelin sheaths that insulate nerve fibers in the spinal cord and brain. The result is vision problems, pain, weakness, and numbness that can come and go, but worsen over time. Infusions of antibodies that deplete B cells, a type of white blood cell, can curb relapses. But the disease has no cure.
Eventually, 955 soldiers developed MS. Of the 801 with sufficient blood samples, 35 were negative for EBV in their first blood test; all but one became EBV positive during the study before developing MS on average 5 years later. By comparison, only half of 107 MS-free study participants used as controls became EBV positive during the same period, the researchers report today in, comparable to the increase in risk of getting lung cancer from heavy smoking, Ascherio says.
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