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In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

These are efforts to make cures for multiple sclerosis, herpes — affects hundreds of millions in the US alone! — and shingles. This is mindblowing, amazing stuff. But these efforts for cures require a predictable regulatory environment, where decisions are made based on science & and pub health.

that is, things that draw communities together, not politics and falsehoods intended to divide us. And this matters. Cures for major diseases are on the line

For the scientists and docs: shingles / herpes zoster is the disease, the virus is varicella zoster virus, which is a herpesvirus

And beyond that if anyone has questions we should ask a virologist, I’m just a neuroscientist from a small town whose mind has been blown by the MS/EBV studies

This is a better way to say it than I did bsky.app/profile/merz...

Here’s a good interview with Stat on the topic. @elaineywchen.bsky.social , Matthew Herper, Adam Feuerstein, and Allison DeAngelis www.statnews.com/2026/02/12/m...