Epstein-Barr Virus May Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis Development - The New York Times

In a study of members of the Armed Forces, people who developed multiple sclerosis first had Epstein-Barr virus.

For decades, researchers have suspected that people infected with an exceedingly common virus, Epstein-Barr, might be more likely to develop multiple sclerosis, a neurological illness that affects a million people in the United States.

Among the service members in the study, 801 developed multiple sclerosis, a disabling disease that occurs when the immune system attacks the fatty insulation that protects nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

Because so few who are infected with the virus get multiple sclerosis, it cannot be the sole cause of the disease.

There also are genetic factors — 900 abnormal genes have been identified in patients with multiple sclerosis, said Dr.

Among the multiple sclerosis patients, 32 out of 33 got infected with Epstein-Barr before they developed M.S.

As a control group for their study, the scientists tracked 90 individuals who were not initially infected with Epstein-Barr and who also did not get multiple sclerosis.

That meant an Epstein-Barr virus infection increased the risk of multiple sclerosis over thirtyfold, Dr.

The Harvard group tried to control for the possibility that the immune system’s response, not the virus itself, increases the risk of multiple sclerosis in those infected with Epstein-Barr.

So the fact that those infected with it did not have a higher risk of multiple sclerosis might not be surprising.

Bruce Cree, a multiple sclerosis researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, noted that it might be difficult to treat multiple sclerosis by going after Epstein-Barr because it can be difficult to find the actual virus in patients.

Cree is researching whether he can treat multiple sclerosis patients by eradicating those cells, which are infected with Epstein-Barr

Lawrence Steinman, a multiple sclerosis researcher at Stanford, who wrote a perspective accompanying the Harvard group’s paper, said an experimental mRNA vaccine against Epstein-Barr was one of a number of approaches being designed to stop the virus from affecting the brain