Epidemiological investigation of the association between infectious mononucleosis and multiple sclerosis.
By matching a cohort of 494 infectious mononucleosis (IM) cases with a multiple sclerosis (MS) register, 3 MS cases were retrieved. The interval between IM and MS was 12 years. This corresponds to a relative risk of 3.7 for MS to occur subsequent to IM (p = 0.05). This relationship between a manifestation of a relatively late Epstein-Barr virus infection and MS may indicate that a microbiologically shielded environment is important in the pathogenesis of MS.
Lindberg
C
C
Department of Neurology, University of Göteborg, Sweden.
Andersen
O
O
Vahlne
A
A
Dalton
M
M
Runmarker
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007244:Infectious Mononucleosis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology