Multiple Sclerosis: The History of a Disease won a 2005 ForeWord Book of the Year Silver
Medal! The basic facts about multiple sclerosis are well known: it is the most common
neurologic disease of young adults, usually beginning with episodic attacks of neurologic
symptoms, then entering a progressive phase some years later. Its onset has an average
age of 30, and occurs in about 1 in 500 individuals of European ancestry living primarily in
temperate climates. There appears to be a complex interaction between a genetic …

It has been suggested that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) plays a role in the etiology of
multiple sclerosis (MS), but individual epidemiologic studies have been inconclusive, in part
because of the high prevalence of previous infection among individuals without MS. We
conducted a systematic review of case-control studies comparing EBV serology in MS
patients and controls. Eight published investigations were identified, including a total of
1,005 cases and 1,060 controls. The summary odds ratio of MS comparing EBV seropositive …