According to new research published in Science, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a possible cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers noted that the risk of MS increased 32 times after EBV infection.

For the study, researchers used stored blood samples to examine the relationship between EBV infection and MS over a 20-year period between 1993 and 2013. A total of 801 MS case patients and 1566 matched controls without MS were assessed. Only one out of the 801 MS case patients did not have serologic evidence of EBV. The researchers stated that this person may have been infected with the virus after the last blood collection, failed to seroconvert in response to infection, or this was a misdiagnosis. The hazard ratio (HR) for MS between EBV seroconversion compared to persistent EBV seronegative was 32.4… (Medscape)