The internet and social media were going crazy last week with breaking news about a major development in Multiple Sclerosis research. Our feeds were flooded with headlines like:
• Strong new evidence suggests a virus triggers multiple sclerosis
• Study identifies Epstein-Barr as a leading candidate for cause of Multiple Sclerosis
• Moderna Starts Human Trials Of mRNA Vaccine For Virus That Likely Causes Multiple Sclerosis
• Strongest evidence yet that MS is caused by Epstein-Barr virus
At first glance, Dan and I were underwhelmed.
Maybe it’s because we both have lived with this disease for well over 20 years and, in some ways, we’ve heard it all before. Like with any potentially positive development, headline writers oversold the facts and all but convinced the world that a cure for MS was just around the corner. It wasn’t, so we picked up the pieces of our broken hearts and boldly carried on … again.
But when reputable neurologists we follow started Tweeting, Retweeting and continually commenting on this newly released research, we stopped and took notice.
This absolutely is worth celebrating!
We long have heard about a potential connection between Epstein-Barr Virus and MS, but we didn’t pay much attention to it. After all, Dan and I never had EVB, right? But this research has a ton of data to back up this claim and make us feel that indeed the researchers are getting closer to unlocking the mystery to this chronic illness that impacts nearly 1 mission Americans and an estimated 2.3 million people worldwide.
As Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Chan School of Public Health and the study’s senior author said in one of the reports: “… the findings were a ‘big step’ and suggest most cases of MS could be prevented by stopping infection with EBV, as well as opening up the possibility of a cure for MS by ‘targeting EBV.’”
This is such a huge development to wrap our minds around! For years, these types of developments were encouraging to for Dan and me, but we were selfishly skeptical at the same time.
We often said something to the effect of, “Yeah, this great and all for the people who don’t have MS, but what does this do for us? When are they going to find something to fix and reverse the damage it’s already caused to us?”
The promise of this research is proof positive that this research isn’t directly about those of us living with MS; rather, it’s about future generations. It’s about people like our nieces and nephew – Leah, Ella, Anna, Elizabeth and Ryan – back near Dan’s hometown in Iowa who potentially may never hear the devastating news that, “You have MS.”
It’s research like this that vindicates and confirms the reasons why Dan and I tirelessly advocate for scientific investigations into the possible causes and treatments of MS and have annually raised money to support MS research and programming over the past two decades.
Yes, this news overwhelms and encourages us at the same time, and we urge you to read one or more of the articles we link to earlier in this essay to understand why this all is such big news.