Karim foroghivand - Urmia university of medical science,urmia,iran
mohammad hasan shahhosseiny - Department of microbiology,Islamic azad university,ghods branch,Tehran,iran
amin mahmoodi - MSc of microbiology,Islamic azad university, science and research branch,Tehran,iran

multiple sclerosis(MS) the most common disease among demyelinating disorders.MS is approximately threefold more common in women than men and the age of onset is typically between 20 and 40 years. Although different factors (genetical and environmental) are suggested in establishment of MS but the definite cause is unknown. Onesuggested cause is infection with EPSTEIN BARR virus(EBV)that cause heterophile positive infectious mononucleosis andsome kind of cancer in humans. Aim: the aim of this study was to use Polymerase chain reaction(PCR) to detect presence of EBV in patients harboring MSas well as in healthy individuals in the control group. Method: this study is a cross sectional analytical study in which 50 MS patients and 50 healthy controls were included. The infection with EBV was investigated by the PCR. Results: the sensitivity of this technique was 500 particle per ML and its specificity for EBV was 100%.within the 50 patients with MS ,4 samples revealed positive results for EBV (8%),while in the control group no infection with EBV was found(0%).

multiple sclerosis(MS), EPSTEIN BARR virus(EBV), Polymerase chain reaction(PCR)