Epstein-Barr virus is the leading cause of multiple sclerosis

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-01100-0

I'm not exerpting the article because it's a lot of scientific language I just don't understand.

Consider this more a "hey, science is good and people who this effects can research the findings further" post.

[elleng]

1. WOW!

[Nevilledog]

3. I know!

[elleng]

6. My sister in law's sister has it, and visited here in June;

noticeable burden, but seems to handle it well.

and then, for West Wing fans, so does/did President Bartlet!

[Ms. Toad]

2. Thanks! I have literally dozens of people in my life with MS. n/t

[Nevilledog]

4. Do you think this finding will be useful to them?

[Ms. Toad]

5. Not immediately -

but it's one more piece in the puzzle.

Not quite like discovering that ulcers are caused by bacteria - but in the same vein. We aren't so good at batting down viruses, but we're getting better.

Heading off to read the article.

ETA: Dang - I had most of a summary of the article done and the dog ate my homework (really the computer ate my post). If I have energy later I'll try to reconstruct it.

[Sky Jewels]

7. That's huge!

I also know several people with MS. I hope this leads to advancements in treatment and prevention.

[electric_blue68]

8. Kudos to the Researchers! Here's to better, stronger treatments, eventually waaay less MS!

[Igel]

9. I'll correct one of the links.

In a recent study published in Science, Bjornevik and colleagues demonstrated Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is a possible trigger for multiple sclerosis (MS) in a longitudinal analysis of more than 10 million US military individuals who were on active duty.

First, it's saying if you suffer from Epstein-Barr, you are at risk. Not "you will experience." You pull a trigger of a gun, slug is projected. You get EB, you're mere at risk.

Second, and more importantly, "However, seroconversion rates for cytomegalovirus (CMV), the negative control virus, were comparative between the population who had MS symptoms later and others who did not have." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-01100-0

In other words, unless my academic English fails me, CMV and EB were indistinguishable as triggers in later incidence of MS. Why the bias? We think we can help limit and control EB. CMV is out of our control and random. Showing CMV matters says we're at the mercy of randomness. If it' EB? Hey, we got this.

Could be both. But who settles for 1/2 "Got this"?

Both sets of patients should be in a longitudinal study already.

[scipan]

10. This is the same virus that causes mono

And the virus just goes dormant after the mono, like chicken pox.

About 95% of us have it.

Pretty neat. Maybe they can develop a vaccine for it.