Why Epstein-Barr is the ‘everything virus’

When Rae Mainwaring was 13, she developed a peculiar illness. She recalls “just feeling awful” and experiencing a crushing fatigue. “I remember it being hard to put my finger on what it was,” she says. “It felt like a really horrible flu, but it just didn’t get better.” She missed six months of school in Birmingham, England, and attended part time for another six months.