Zoster Virus (Shingles), MS Possibly Linked

Action Points  

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• Note that there is some evidence that viruses may trigger autoimmune neurological processes that lead to MS in genetically susceptible individuals.
• Point out that this study shows that in a Taiwanese population, herpes zoster infection is a significant risk factor for a subsequent diagnosis of MS within the following year.

Adults with a history of chicken pox or shingles infections had a fourfold increased risk for developing multiple sclerosis, researchers said.

In a population-wide epidemiological study conducted in Taiwan, the hazard ratio for MS diagnosis within a year of such infections, relative to those without such a history, was 3.96 (95% CI 2.22 to 7.07), reported Herng-Ching Lin, PhD, of Taipei Medical University.

Moreover, the mean time between the acute infection and MS diagnosis was just 104 days.

“Our findings suggest that the occurrence of MS could be associated with herpes zoster attack,” Lin and colleagues wrote online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

It’s the first large-scale study to support previous suggestions that MS may be triggered or exacerbated by herpes zoster (also known as varicella zoster) virus, the agent responsible for chicken pox and shingles.

The virus infects the central nervous system. Typically, after the initial chicken pox attack, the virus becomes latent in the dorsal root ganglion. Years later, what Lin and colleagues called “immunological derangement” or other triggers can reactivate the virus to cause skin eruptions with severe pain.

Herpes zoster has long been suspected of playing some type of causative role in MS — for example, demyelination has occasionally been seen in conjunction with severe herpes zoster attacks — but the rarity of MS in the population has made epidemiological studies difficult.