According to a Reuters Health item published on msn.com new research has backed up three previous studies linking earlier infection by the Epstein-Barr (E-B) virus with later development of multiple sclerosis (MS). The report was based on results of a study published in the Archives of Neurology, undertaken by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.
The research involved individuals with MS who had given blood samples earlier in life when they were about 32 years of age. The samples, which had been stored at cold temperatures, were compared to those of others in the same health plan who did not have the disease.
The researchers found the levels of antibodies to the E-B virus in the blood of the MS victims collected 15 years earlier were significantly higher than the levels in those who did not go on to develop the disease. This implies a particularly strong immune response to the original viral infection in those who develop MS.
The E-B virus is extremely common. The researchers acknowledged that perhaps 96 percent of Americans have been exposed to the virus — which most often causes mononucleosis (kissing disease)– by the time they reach age 40.
Hereditary and environmental factors are believed to play a role in MS, a chronic degenerative disease in which the body attacks its own central nervous system. Perhaps this finding of a possible role for the E-B virus will provide new avenues for MS research.
Reuters quoted Alberto Ascherio, senior author of the study and associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health as saying "Collectively, the results of this and the previous studies provide compelling evidence that infection with (the virus) is a risk factor in the development of MS," however it remains far from clear how such a widespread risk factor can be avoided.