Multiple sclerosis (MS) seems to be the result of low sun exposure and mononucleosis, new research suggests.
MS is more common in regions that receive minimal sunlight for the majority of the year, such as the Northern U.S., Scandinavia, and Canada, according to WebMD.
Sunlight exposure enables the skin to produce vitamin D, and some studies have indicated that not having enough vitamin D is directly linked to MS. Also, having a history of mononucleosis, which is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, has been thought to trigger MS.
In an attempt to discover if the two potential risk factors could explain the geographical variations in the occurrence of multiple sclerosis, MS researcher George C. Ebers, MD, and colleagues at the University of Oxford in the U.K. conducted a study.
Ebers and his colleagues examined data from 1998 to 2005 on hospital admissions for MS, infectious mononucleosis and other infections throughout England. They also gathered information from NASA to approximate the intensity of ultraviolet light in various locations during all seasons.
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