A Risk Factor for Multiple Sclerosis
Fri, April 21, 2006 at 05:09AM The cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) is unknown, but people have speculated for years that a virus may be responsible. The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the virus responsible for mono (infectious mononucleosis or glandular fever). It’s highly infectious, but most infections are subclinical, i.e. they don’t cause any symptoms or signs; 90% to 95% of US adults have antibodies to the virus.
It’s been known for some years that EBV antibody levels are elevated in people with MS, or shortly before they develop MS. But the collection of blood samples 34 years ago offered researchers the chance to look for a correlation between EBV antibody levels and the development of MS many years later.
And they found such a correlation. The average age of onset of MS was 45, and the average time between blood sampling and onset of MS was 15 years. For every 4-fold increase in the level of antibodies to EBV, the chances of developing MS doubled.
The most that researchers are prepared to say is that high antibody levels of EBV occur many years before the onset of MS, suggesting it’s an early event in the course of the disease. They suggest that, maybe, an active immune response to EBV infection may cause a cross-reaction with myelin antigens (degradation of myelin in the nerve sheaths is the hallmark of MS).
Maybe one day youngsters will get vaccinated against EBV to help them avoid getting MS?
Reader Comments (1)
Just before I became ill at 46, I was enduring great stress. Any alone or combined may have brought out/on the illness (family crises, family illness, many visits to hospital (exposure to a virus there?) in the coldest weather too).
My life experience mimics the profile your article outlined of EBV lingering and increasing over time to possibly result in MS.
Please continue to attempt to develop a vaccine so future young people will be protected from the ravages of EBV in their youth and adult years.