Epstein-Barr virus is one of the nine known herpesviruses and one of the most common viruses found in humans. It is estimated that approximately 90% of the world´s population is infected with EBV. Infections typically occur in early childhood and are usually asymptomatic. However, when infections occur later in life, they frequently cause infectious mononucleosis (“glandular fever”) and other serious complications. The virus is also associated with certain cancers – approximately 200,000 cancer cases worldwide, including several types of lymphoma, are attributed to EBV.

To explore whether there is a link between MS and EBV, a team of researchers studied more than 10 million active duty US military personnel between 1993 and 2013. Dr. Alberto Ascherio from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health led the study. NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) partly supported the work. The results appeared in Science on January 13, 2022.

The results documented that EBV infection is by far the most important risk factor for multiple sclerosis.

📌https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30539801/

📌https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-suggests-epstein-barr-virus-may-cause-multiple-sclerosis

📌https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24669-b-cells

📌https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6509632

First EBV vaccine candidate: 📌https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/985086

📌https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/01/epstein-barr-virus-multiple-sclerosis.html