There also are genetic factors — 900 abnormal genes have been identified in patients with multiple sclerosis, said Dr.
Among the multiple sclerosis patients, 32 out of 33 got infected with Epstein-Barr before they developed M.S.As a control group for their study, the scientists tracked 90 individuals who were not initially infected with Epstein-Barr and who also did not get multiple sclerosis.That meant an Epstein-Barr virus infection increased the risk of multiple sclerosis over thirtyfold, Dr.The Harvard group tried to control for the possibility that the immune system’s response, not the virus itself, increases the risk of multiple sclerosis in those infected with Epstein-Barr.So the fact that those infected with it did not have a higher risk of multiple sclerosis might not be surprising.
Bruce Cree, a multiple sclerosis researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, noted that it might be difficult to treat multiple sclerosis by going after Epstein-Barr because it can be difficult to find the actual virus in patients.
Cree is researching whether he can treat multiple sclerosis patients by eradicating those cells, which are infected with Epstein-Barr
Lawrence Steinman, a multiple sclerosis researcher at Stanford, who wrote a perspective accompanying the Harvard group’s paper, said an experimental mRNA vaccine against Epstein-Barr was one of a number of approaches being designed to stop the virus from affecting the brain