Study Finds Link Between Glandular Fever And MS

Tuesday, 8 February 2022 15:14

By Caoimhe Harney

Sharon Ní Chonchúir told her story to KFM.

In 2010,Sharon Ní Chonchúir, became one of the 9,000 or so people in Ireland with MS.

She also had a bad bout of glandular fever in her teens.

Researchers now say there is a link between the two.

According to a team at the Harvard School of Public Health, Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), the pathogen that can cause glandular fever, is also a cause for MS.

Sharon Ní Chonchúir, says a new study linking a virus to the chronic inflammatory disease opens up the possibility of a cure

Professor Alberto Ascherio one of the authors of the study found that Approximately 95% of people are infected by the EBV virus by adulthood.

Most display no symptoms, but some go on to develop glandular fever.

Ascherio’s research now shows that a proportion of those people later develop MS.

He and his team looked at the medical records of more than 10m US military members.

Sharon spoke on KFM about her experience of living with MS, she commented: "You tend to only know the worst case scenarios, all of my associations were very negative.

"But since I first got diagnosed things have changed.

"As long as I can rest and I can keep my stress levels under control.

"Interpersonal stress is my big trigger, so I have to keep that under control," she said.

Sharon Ní Chonchúir spoke with Ciara Noble on Tuesday's Kildare Focus:

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