Only a tiny proportion of people develop m s, nor point two % in the united king for example. This creates a conundrum for researches. How can you prove that a near ubiquitous virus causes an auto immune disease in an unlucky few? Scario's epidemeological approach was to track the m s and e b v status of military recruits using medical records and blood serum samples. The team showed all but one had contracted e b v by the time of their m s diagnosis, an infection rate of 97%. By contrast, the infection rate in controls who did not develop m s,. was 50 even %. Those individuals who went on to develop m s had higher levels of neuro degener
Results from a huge epidemiological study found that infection by the Epstein-Barr virus increases the risk of developing multiple sclerosis 32-fold. This result, combined with emerging mechanistic insights into how the virus triggers brain damage, are raising the prospect of treating or preventing MS.
These advances come at a time when researchers are more interested than ever in what happens in the months and years following a viral infection, and highlights the issues untangling the relationships between infectious diseases and chronic conditions.
This is an audio version of our Feature: The quest to prevent MS — and understand other post-viral diseases.
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