EBV Does Not Cause Multiple Sclerosis

Maybe EBV “opens the door” to a more damaging infectious agent, while not causing damage itself?

I'm on board with you. I've felt like people with MS have odd immune systems before EBV is even in the picture.

I know so many people that were diagnosed with MS & they had a very stressful event a couple of years prior to diagnosis. (Divorce with kids involved or drawn out death of a loved one). Do you ever ask patients if they had a very stressful event in their life a couple of years before diagnosis. I think this stressful event reactivates EBV & triggers MS. Just like shingles being triggered by a stressful event.

I’ve been chronically sick for the past year with neurological issues. Was diagnosed with MS this year, but also, blood work showed high level reactivated EBV. Almost a year later and EBV levels are still very high. Coincidental that MS diagnosis and EBV reactivated simultaneously? Had horrible mono 20 years ago as a teenager.

My diagnosing doctor asked me if I had bad mono as a teen when I first saw him 14 years ago. I did indeed have a severe bout of mono with splenomegaly and lymph glands the size of oranges in my neck. Interesting.

Thx Dr. Beaber. I would be thankful if you´d make a video about the " Car-T Cell and MS " -Topic.

Ty for the latest update and information- I’m posting this everywhere. ❤ Big hug… Keep Sciencing on

Hey Dr Beaber, I’d love to see a video on what vaccines would be recommendable before starting B cell therapies. Looking at forums, recommendations are variable from “just make sure you’re up to date” to -> everything you can get your hands on. I’m UK-based and the recommendation is the former. Shingles vax is frequently mentioned and studies say some people get shingles on B cell therapy but it’s not clear if they’re in a more susceptible age group (I’m in my 30s). Another study says B cell therapy caused someone to lose their immunity anyway (antibody test)…so what’s the point in pre vaccinating. Lastly, if you pre vaccinate to boost your B memory cells…is it the case that they tell the adult B cells to make antibodies, hence if they are killed there is no point in having the memory of a vaccine if you can’t attack the virus? I’m swamped trying to navigate immunology so would love to hear from you! Starting B cell therapy soon so any advice would be appreciated ☺️

I’m one of the people who failed this trial. I pulled out early because of progression. I’ve long wished I could find out whether I was on the drug, or on placebo- though perhaps it doesn’t really matter now…

I have tested negative for EBV a few times. I’ve had MS for 24 years. However, both of my sisters had it growing up. I was definitely exposed. Also spent almost 20 years in the medical field (mostly pediatrics). Great information! Thanks, Dr.B!

Thanks for the update and new information. From my, non-medical, perspective I find all of this information encouraging as finding causality is often a needle in a haystack proposition imo....and sometimes humans get a sort of tunnel vision in their quest. So saying all of that, seeing the relationship between EBV and MS opens up a whole new set of hypothesis' to be explored.

I think this highlights and re-affirms the connection with the impact of the sun / vitamin D in early life immune development. Individuals from equatorial regions also have a higher relative incidence (if I am not mistaken) - as such it may be a genetic predisposition + modulated by the amount of melatonin in one's skin. In combination with other factors such as stress, gut dysbiosis or perhaps increased chemical exposure in western countries there might be more confounding variables thrown into the mix in these "western"/ more northern regions. Particularly since Australia seems to have a quite low MS incidence with a largely "western" melatonin pigmentation. Incidence in these regions could perhaps also be due to western lifestyle since jobs, schools all require people to stay indoors for extremely prolonged periods of time (8hrs+), exactly the time when our evolutionary ancestors would have been out and about in the sun (at least occasionally). Perhaps this ties in to EBV where reduced sunlight allows EBV to cause more damage as the immune system may not be functioning optimally / in a more inflammatory state due to lack of sunlight.

Thank you! I really appreciate that you share research studies and results for all of us.

We're almost to a new year Dr Brandon and I was just wondering how come you didn't answer a lot of our questions on this last video? I truly hope you didn't think that's some of our questions we're not important enough or made sense. I believe there's a number of us that have been following you for some time and we all respect your opinion I understand you're a busy man but I for one enjoy your videos that you bring to us every Wednesday

I have tested negative for EBV three times. My MRIs look like a petri dish for demyelination.

Great work Dr., keep searching. I'm with you.

Interesting video thank you Dr Beaber. I agree we don’t have the full picture but EBV does seem to be a piece of the puzzle. It’s difficult to know how big the piece it is!

My childhood trauma is the cause of my MS. My brother also has MS. No love is what caused my MS

Can EBV reactivate later in life even if you were never diagnosed ? The reason I ask is because I believe I had it in very early 20s when Ihad some major fatigue that literally knocked me on my ass for a prolonged period . Very interesting video Dr Brandon and Thank-you for your hard work and I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family.

As to the question why there is no correlation of Burkitt Lymphoma and MS despite the EBV link.... 1. Age of EBV infection 2. Age of patients with Burkitt Lymphoma 2. Malaria infections 3. HIV infections 4. Parasitic infections 5. Vit D levels 6. Possible "Strain" of EBV 7. Environment: Microbiome, Smoking, Obesity 8. Base Genetics (interplaying with all of the above) 9. Epigenetics (interacting with all of the above) Edit: I forgot one.....10. Sunlight exposure including exposure to red/blue wavelengths of light independent of UV light.