Virus Shapes Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

A massive, decade-long medical study has removed some lingering doubts that the neurological disease multiple sclerosis (MS) is linked to a common viral infection. For years, research findings have pointed toward the connection, but whether the infection is a cause, a result, or unrelated to MS has remained an open question.

Now, in a large-scale investigation into that question, researchers have found a statistical smoking gun linking risk of the disease to the body’s long-lasting immune response to Epstein-Barr virus.