An unusually well-written article for a newspaper.
This forum has had probably hundreds of posts which mention Epstein-Barr virus (often contracted to EBV). Although the article doesn't mention thyroid, I do think it is relevant here.
Can we vaccinate against Epstein-Barr, the virus you didn’t know you had?
I read that article earlier and I wondered if EBV could be responsible for other autoimmune conditions as well as MS. I wasn't aware there was a link with certain cancers however. Very good article I thought.
I think it definitely could be related to many autoimmune diseases.
But we can take another lesson from the article. Which is that even if EBV doesn't cause a particular autoimmune disease, it seems likely that there could be multiple viruses which cause multiple disorders.
We certainly have some viruses which can remain dormant, apparently not doing anything, which suddenly bounce back into activity. Like Herpes zoster starting with chickenpox and (sometimes) comes back as shingles.
yes . lots . HPV virus is interesting too ( the one that causes Cervical Cancer).
That has associations with Lupus i think , so wouldn't surprise me if other autoimmune diseases are associated , but don't think anyone knows yet.
HPV usually goes away completely by itself after @ 18 months , but a small % of people it just keeps popping back up.
I've had it since i was about 20 . but i suspect it's not gone away but is just 'hiding' ... lots of fun.. each time it pops backup they chop a bit more cervix off. Great..... Not .
Seriously hoping it keeps it's head down for long enough this time that i pop my cloggs from something else first.
Interesting because Shingrix (and possibly previous shingles vaccines) is recommended for those who have had shingles in order to prevent recurrence. I think you are supposed to wait a year or so before having it.
Do you think it could apply to other vaccines? Trouble is you can’t get the shingles one on the NHS until you’re 70 even if you first had it in your 40’s like I did. Why give it a 30 year window to gather steam? I am not sure I’m going to even make 70 it’s bad enough being 63! 🤣🤣🤣
At one point, they were discussing something like giving it to everyone at 70, then sort-of backfilling from something like 60 or 65. Each year, the younger ones would close in on the ones getting it at 70 - until there is no gap.
There was some logic to that approach, but now I try to write about it, I can't see that logic.
Burkett’s lymphoma is one cancer it appears to provoke, it’s a non Hodgkins lymphoma. I know of two people who’ve had it, one died of it and one has survived because it was caught much earlier but he’s had a belly full of other problems since all diagnosed early and sorted. Both younger men in their 30’s when they got Burkett’s lymphoma
I saw this earlier too and agree. It’s interesting and well written.
When I was diagnosed as being hypothyroid, it was also discovered that my EBV - from glandular fever as a teenager - was also reactivated. I don’t have Hashimoto’s but I’ve often wondered if EBV provoked my thyroid problems, or indeed if my failing thyroid “woke up” my EBV.
Two fascinating articles that illustrate how viruses can be associated with severe chronic conditions.EBV, like Cytomegalovirus, Varicella Zoster Virus and Herpes Simplex Virus is one of the Herpes family of viruses, and they all hide themselves away from your immune system and reactivate when your immune system is challenged or reduced.Most of us become infected with these in childhood, but because they rarely cause severe illness in children, there seems to have been very little work towards vaccine development. I'm sure that modern technology could produce vaccines for all of these, and wouldn't it be good if we could prevent infection with them by vaccinating children (as we are now doing with the HPV vaccine).
I think it's time to look at the use of anti-viral drugs in treating virus infection and reactivation.
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