#ebv

One of the world's most common viral infections could underlie virtually every case of lupus, according to a recent study providing the strongest evidence yet for a link. The research, led by scientists at Stanford University, has found that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) could be the trigger behind the 'cruel mystery' of this chronic autoimmune disease.

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My brain: Well, silly, that's called a flare up now, isn't it.

Route to MS

Most of us have encountered the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV; which infects cells of the immune system), and without long-lasting adverse effect. However, in some it's associated with certain cancers and has recently been identified as a prerequisite for the development of multiple sclerosis, the neurodegenerative disease in which the nerve-protective sheath of myelin is lost. This study, in mice and in human tissue, finds that EBV infection does induce B cells – immune system cells that EBV most commonly and permanently infects – that are myelin-reactive into the brain but they normally die because of a self-protective checkpoint. But, with the presence of one of EBV's proteins called LMP1, these myelin-reactive B cells could be rescued and therefore go on to become myelin destroying. Hence, providing an explanation for the incidence of MS depending on prior EBV infection. Shown are flu virus component-reactive B cells (red) interacting with other cells (cyan) that bear their target, part of this study's experimental process that allowed the conclusions about EBV to be drawn

Still from a video from work by Hyein Kim and Mika Schneider, and colleagues

Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel and University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Cell, January 2026

My life is on a permanent pause. Everyday is groundedhog day. Years are going by and I'm still stuck in the same place. Time is quite literally in a time loop. Nothing changes. Nothing actually ever gets better. I'm a ghost in my own life.

And then I have to explain to them that I'm the one that gets those complications because my immune system is fucked. And just because it's rare doesn't mean I'm an acceptable loss due to their carelessness. And then i also have to explain complications that arent deadly but instead disabling are often disregarded as " not serious" but at any point in time their body may stop working, and a viral illness could contribute.