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Inside Health

Unlocking the mystery of Epstein-Barr Virus

Inside Health

BBC

Health & Fitness, Science

4.4575 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most of us have Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) hiding in our bodies.

You may know it as the cause of glandular fever or “kissing disease”.

But more research is suggesting that it can turn our immune systems against us to cause autoimmune disease, such as multiple sclerosis or lupus. So, what is the virus doing in our bodies - and can we do anything about it?

James is joined by Dr Claire Shannon-Lowe, a virologist at the University of Birmingham, and Dr Patrick Kearns from the University of Edinburgh, a neurologist and epidemiologist.

And we delve into the world of echolocation.

Bats hunt at night by making pulses of sounds and listening to the echoes so they can build a picture of the world around them in total darkness - and it's a technique some people with visual impairment use to explore the world.

A team at the University of East Anglia has been testing how well humans can pick up these skills, so James pays a visit to have a go...

Presenter: James Gallagher Producers: Gerry Holt, Tom Bonnett & Thomas Hunt Production coordinator: Stuart Laws Content editor: Ilan Goodman

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:06.1

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0:07.6

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.

0:10.0

It's such a wonderful listen.

0:11.7

So nice.

0:12.5

There are loads more like it on BBC Sounds.

0:14.8

Different paces, different heights, the roof is buckling.

0:17.9

Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.

0:20.2

It's right foot goes for goal.

0:22.6

And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.

0:27.7

The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.

0:31.2

And she's had to live with that.

0:32.8

So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.

0:35.8

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:37.8

Sort of expecting that every week now.

0:40.4

Hello there and welcome to the Inside Health podcast. I'm James Gallagher.

0:44.2

I'm going to be trained to navigate like a bat using echolocation later.

0:49.6

Okay, and we'll take the board away.

0:55.5

You've taken it away, haven't you?

0:56.7

It does sound more deadened.

0:58.6

Yeah, that's a good way of describing it, yeah, when there's no echoes there.

1:01.9

But first, I wanted to explore Epstein-Barr virus or EBV.

...

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