Are multiple viruses responsible for causing multiple sclerosis (MS)?

It is also possible that multiple sclerosis (MS) may be caused or triggered by more than one virus. Studies have already shown high levels of measles antibodies in the spinal fluid of MS patients. Additional studies have found even higher levels of antibodies against other viruses, including herpes simplex, influenza C, Epstein-Barr, and others.

In one study, 23 percent of MS patients had abnormal levels of antibodies to two or more viruses. In 1985 researchers at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia implicated a new retrovirus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus I (HTLV-I), in as many as one-third of people with MS. A retrovirus is a type of virus that invades a cell and, through a very complex process called "reverse transcription," can produce unlimited copies of itself.

Japanese scientists also found antibodies for the HTLV-I virus in the blood of eleven out of forty-six people with MS. This report caused a great deal of concern among patients who feared that the HTLV-I virus might somehow be connected to the HTLV-III virus, which causes AIDS. It is not.

There is no AIDS-MS connection at all. Further studies still have to be conducted to see if HTLVI is really unique to MS or if it is also found in people with other neurological diseases. Although each new report is interesting, each must be greeted with caution.

In 1982, for instance, scientists claimed the subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) virus was present in the spinal fluid of people with MS. Soon after, however, this "virus" was also found in the spinal fluid of people with illnesses unrelated to MS. The connection between HTLV-I and MS remains to be drawn scientifically.

Until then, it must be considered casual.

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