The exact causes of multiple sclerosis still remain unknown. In a mouse model of the disease, researchers (UNIGE) studied the potential link between transient cerebral viral infections in childhood and the development of this cerebral autoimmune disease later in life. Indeed, the brain area affected by viral infection during childhood undergoes a change that can call, a long time later, on the immune system to turn against itself at this precise location, triggering autoimmune lesions.
Source: EurekaAlert, https://www.eurekalert.org