They and several colleagues have now revealed that the virus is active in most MS patients in such regions as the central nervous system, lymph nodes and blood flow near the surface of the body. It appears that active HHV-6 infection does not occur in normal control patients. At least 300,000 are affected, two-thirds of them women between the ages of 20 and 40. Symptoms include muscle weakness and vision problems that can erupt periodically.
Patients typically endure varying cycles of attacks and remissions.
Most patients will develop a progressive disease, some ending up in wheelchairs. MS most often wears away at myelin, the sheaths that protect the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, leaving lesions. The naked axons, the cylindrical extensions of nerves, become incapable of sending the types of messages required to properly control movements, speech and a wide range of bodily functions. In other words, the virus is active at the scene of the crime. Knox and Carrigan and their colleagues at St. Luke's Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington D.C. also report that there is growing evidence that antiviral drugs could suppress an active HHV-6 infection and help control MS symptoms.