2023-01-062023-01-062022-09-011558-8238http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/8225http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/8254A recent research report in Science by Bjornevik et al. tested the hypothesis that multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in a cohort of more than ten million adults on active duty in the US military during a 20-year period (1993–2013) (1). The authors reported that individuals who had prior EBV infection were 24 times more likely to develop MS than noninfected persons. The findings appear to confirm a longstanding suspicion linking EBV to MS and led many to call for an EBV vaccine to prevent MS. A closer examination of the article, however, indicates the analysis was incomplete and misrepresents the data. In fact, a strong association between EBV and MS was present only for those with recent infection occurring during active-duty military service.3 pagesengAttribution CC BYhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Text