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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Caused by a Herpes Virus?

© Neal Rolfe Chamberlain

A recent article at ABCNews.com reported that a virus called human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) may be the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a disease that occurs when a person's own immune system starts attacking the nerves in their brain. Intially, patients report feeling tingling and numbness or weakness on one side of the body or in one limb. The sensations may then go away after a while and reoccur after exertion or a hot bath. Other symptoms may include unsteadiness, blurred vision, slurred speech and urinary problems. In some people, these symptoms may go away and never come back. In others patients these symptoms may recur and cause progressive loss of muscle functions. In these serious cases, other symptoms may follow, such as mood changes, muscle spasms and skin ulcers. Patients can have lengthy periods of time in which they are free of symptoms (remissions) with recurrances of these symptoms (relapses) over many decades.

One type of Human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6; variant B) commonly infects humans. Over, 80 percent of the population in the United States has acquired this virus sometime during their life. Many people get this HHV-6 variant B infection when they are young and have an illness called roseola infantum (a rash of infants). Another name for this disease is exanthem subitum (a skin rash that occurs suddenly). About 30 percent of all children between the ages of 6 months to 3 years get roseola infantum. The typical disease symptoms consist of a high fever (102-105 degrees F) that lasts from 3 to 5 days. The fever will quickly go away and as it does a skin rash suddenly appears on the trunk and neck of the child. This rash can then go away in a few hours or last for a few days without any lasting effects.

Another type of HHV-6 called HHV-6 variant A infects adults and is less common. Now virologist Konstance Knox (Director of Research, Institute of Viral Pathogenesis, Greenfield, Wisconsin) claims that this HHV-6 variant A could be the cause of MS. Studies done in her laboratory indicated that the HHV-6 variant A is found in the brain of MS patients at the places where the damage is occuring. She also claims that people with MS have HHV-6 variant A in their blood stream. They have developed a way to rapidly grow the virus to help in diagnosis of people with an active HHV-6 infection. Some MS patients have even been treated with antiviral drugs (Cytovene and Foscavir) that appear to eliminate their symptoms.

Remember, this is not direct proof. Many more studies are needed to