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Study Adds Evidence and Diversity to Link Between Epstein-Barr Virus Infection, Mono, and Risk of MS

August 31, 2017

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Southern California and their national and international collaborators published results of a study that expands previous reports suggesting that people whose bloodwork showed signs of a past infection by the Epstein-Barr virus, or who had had mononucleosis, were more likely to develop multiple sclerosis than people who did not show signs of the infection. This study included people identifying as white, black, and Hispanic. Some individuals with MS in this study did not show signs of exposure to the virus. The virus is among several risk factors identified that increase a person’s susceptibility to getting MS.
 
Read a news story in Healthday about this study
Read the scientific abstract in the journal Neurology
Read more about risk factors for MS
 

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide.

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