Epstein-Barr Virus May Be Leading Cause.

• Position: MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple sclerosis, a progressive disease that affects 2,800,000 people worldwide and for which there is no definitive cure, likely is caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, maintains a study led by School of Public Health researchers at Harvard University.

'The hypothesis that EBV causes MS has been investigated by our group and others for several years, but this is the first study providing compelling evidence of causality," says senior author Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition. 'This is a big step because it suggests that most MS cases could be prevented by stopping EBV infection, and that targeting EBV could lead to the discovery of a cure for MS."

MS is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that attacks the myelin sheaths protecting neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Its cause is not known, yet one of the top suspects is EBV, a herpes virus that can induce infectious mononucleosis and establishes a latent, lifelong infection of the host.

Establishing...