Scientists have found the strongest evidence to date that an infection from the Epstein-Barr virus could increase the risk of developing multiplesclerosis.
Dr. Kjetil Bjornevik, a research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told STAT News that the study shows that the leading cause of multiplesclerosis is the disease caused by the virus.
The findings offer hope that a vaccine or early treatment of the virus could one day help prevent multiple sclerosis, according to the author of the study and epidemiology professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
There is still uncertainty about whether the virus causes the disease.
The study suggests a higher risk of the disease after an illness.
Multiplesclerosis is caused by inflammation that attacks myelin, a type of fat in the nerves. There were more than two million people living with multiplesclerosis in 2020.
The Multiple Sclerosis International Federation says that when myelin degrades, it's more difficult for the nerves to send messages to the brain. In advanced cases, patients can have weakness in their arms and legs, making it difficult to stand.
Scientists analyzed samples from the Department of Defense's Serum repository, a collection of more than 60 million blood samples taken from more than 10 million active and reserve duty members every few years.
The scientists compared blood samples from 1,566 service members who didn't develop the disease to samples from 801 service members who were diagnosed with the disease. The control group and the group that developedMS started off without an infectious disease.
34 of the 35 people who developed the disease had been exposed to the disease at some point during the study. The infections always preceded the diagnosis in these cases.
The scientists found that people with a previous EBV infection were more likely to get the disease later in life.
Some experts say that the jury is still out on the issue of whether or not the disease is caused by EBV.
It's difficult to prove that the disease is caused by the same virus as mononucleosis.
Alan Thompson, dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences from University College London and a peer reviewer on the new paper, told Insider that the way the study is designed means scientists can't be certain that the virus causes the disease.
Scientists aren't sure if the disease is caused by the virus.
Catherine Godbold, research communications manager for theMS Society, said that they need to be cautious about getting too excited.
The gold standard would be to do a randomized controlled trial, but it would involve infecting half of the study participants with the disease, so it's impractical as well as unethical. She said the current study design is the best.
The study did not investigate how the disease could be caused.
Some research groups think that the virus has a molecule at its surface that confuses the immune system and causes inflammation. Different researchers theorize that the immune cells called B cells may turn against the body if they are exposed to the disease.
Some scientists disagree about whether the Epstein-Barr virus causes multiplesclerosis.
iStock and other images are included.
It may take decades for a vaccine to offer hope.
Moderna is in the early stages of developing a vaccine against the disease, using the same technology as the current COVID-19 vaccine.
Thompson said that using existing technology may speed up the availability of the vaccine.
It's important to figure out what other factors are at play because most people don't develop multiplesclerosis. Genetics, vitamins D deficiency and childhood Obesity are risk factors for multiplesclerosis.
If you could prevent infections, we should be able to prevent most of the cases of the disease.
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