This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

.

Interesting, Bob...
The later the exposure to EBV, the more insidious possibilities.

From the CDC:

"Many children become infected with EBV, and these infections usually cause no symptoms or are indistinguishable from the other mild, brief illnesses of childhood. In the United States and in other developed countries, many persons are not infected with EBV in their childhood years. When infection with EBV occurs during adolescence or young adulthood, it causes infectious mononucleosis 35% to 50% of the time."

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/ebv.htm

Something in "developed" nations keeps children from catching a benign course of EBV. (Exception being Africa- where EBV related childhood Burkitt's lymphoma is prevalent.) When EBV is contracted later, its course is more problematic. Makes sense with the hygiene hypothesis.
AC

.

Have we done an age related chicken pox/mono poll? I'd be curious to know the unscientific results.

Whenever I see mention of the timing of certain illnesses being important subsequently, I am always reminded of the thymus, (where T cells mature). When puberty begins, the flood of sex hormones in the body cause the thymus to involute, (atrophy and turn to fat), so it would seem obvious that an antigen encountered during childhood will provoke a different and more complete response than if it occurs later in life.
Because of this, puberty marks the beginning of a change in the way our bodies deal with certain infections, so this not only fits in with the hygiene hypothesis, but also might explain why women succumb to MS more than men – with puberty beginning earlier and earlier, their thymuses have even less time as a child to encounter every antigen before the sex hormones begin to shut down their function,

TwistedHelix wrote:with puberty beginning earlier and earlier, their thymuses have even less time as a child to encounter every antigen before the sex hormones begin to shut down their function,

Bingo, Dom! Wonderful point. I was contemplating this last night watching my early-pubertied son and his not so mature buddy hanging out. My husband began puberty early (for a guy) at 12, and so has my son. Theirs is hereditary, grandpa had a basso voice at 13. I did not know that the flood of sex hormones affected the thymus so radically.

In recent years, it has become de riguer to vaccine kids against every known childhood illness...chicken pox, mumps, even sinus infections. I wonder how we are messing with the antigen production of children. And of course, hormones in food products contribute to earlier and earlier puberty. Perhaps this is why we are seeing MS begin at younger ages?

spot on, Dom...
AC

… Hormones in food… I hadn't thought of that! In this country we have a situation where some male fish become feminised or even change sex completely because of oestrogen in our river water, excreted by women on the pill. Not directly in our food chain, of course, but certainly in our environment; then there are growth hormones pumped into farm animals… makes you wonder…