Epstein-Barr was discovered in 1966 by Anthony Epstein and Yvonne Barr. It was the first human virus shown to cause cancer. The sequencing of its large genome in 1995 helped launch the genomic era.
One of the more massive and complicated viruses, it’s one of the very few viruses that’s able to avoid elimination: once EBV infects your B-cells, it’s in your body to stay. It’s able to effectively hide from the immune system and reactivate just enough so that when the infected B-cells die it can move on to other cells
