MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS LINKED TO HHV-6A VIRUS

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS LINKED TO HHV-6A VIRUS-- Evidence Presented At American Neurology Association Annual Meeting

Dr. Claude Genain of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center presented evidence at the American Neurology Association Annual Meeting this week that shows a direct link between human herpes virus 6 variant A (HHV-6A) and a multiple sclerosis-like illness.

Dr. Genain injected common marmoset monkeys with HHV-6 variants A & B. Most notably, only infection with HHV-6 variant A resulted in illness. The monkeys developed lab evidence and signs of chronic autoimmune demyelination of the central nervous system, the hallmark of multiple sclerosis. This is the first time that any animal infected with HHV-6A has developed clinical pathology of the central nervous system, and the most direct evidence to date of a possible causal connection between HHV-6A and multiple sclerosis.

In recent years there has been a considerable degree of interest in the relationship between HHV-6A and multiple sclerosis, because HHV-6A DNA has repeatedly been found in brain tissue and the cerebrospinal fluid of affected patients, and increased levels of antibodies to viral antigens in their blood only present during replication of HHV-6A are frequently detected.

From BMN PRESS RELEASE