Epstein Barr Virus

I've heard it's connection with mono, but not with bc.

Anne

Wow this caught me off guard.  I was dx with EBV two years ago and was dx at the end of Jan with triple negative IDC...hummm.  I will be asking my new onc about this one!

I never knew there could be a connection but I was diagnosed with EBV a few years ago. I did have mono as a young teen (not sure how I got it because I was hiding behind my glasses trying not to get noticed). 

Bayyyy,

I had no idea there was such a strong connection.  That is scary. I was not ever told not to be an organ donor or donate blood.  Now that I have also had MRSA I know I can not donate blood.  When I was in the hospital, everyone asked me about my MRSA.

Hi Luah,

A 2004 study from Texas directly addresses that issue in it's first paragraph in how EBV infects  90% of the world's population but how only a small few get tumors.

 http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/10/3/803.abstract

Here is another article of studies done in Ann Arbor Michigan from 2001  Epstein-Barr virus linked to invasive breast cancer and lymphoma:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-02/UoMH-Evlt-2702101.php

I also seem to remember reading EBV is not the cause of the cancer, but is a factor in the aggressive spread of it through lymph nodes. I will look for that article and post it.

My interest is that I am newly diagnosed with her2 invasive breast cancer and I have had many flare-ups of Mono and cold sores during stress in my life. And in fact it is how I found the lump in the first place. It is in a location that regular mammograms missed, but during a bad flare-up of cold sores on my lips and face, I was being awakened by a stabbing pain in what a discovered to be the cancerous lump.

I read research for many years about EBV, as I had flare ups of it often. I did come across alot of medical abstract studies stating that virus connected to many cancers, including Hodgkins Lymphoma as well. [my mother had that one]. I also had Melanoma, a few abstracts of that cancer being involved as well. None of this surprises me.

I don't know if the virus claims any weight on whether you will get breast cancer, but more like the virus does a number on your immune system, and we become more vulnerable to certain cancers. Amazing reads, I finally put the research all away, because the stress it caused me by reading the bad news I felt was worse for me, and I needed to go live life. Hav'nt read a page in 9 years since. I also figured most doctors don't know these things, it's far beyond the general medical classroom, which is only covered a few weeks study. The only results you will get by this knowledge is to go to the top researchers in the world.

I did manage ten years of good health by keeping notes of all that would help fight EBV in my body, including getting rid of stress, suppliments, etc. which is just one part of the picture.