by Dr. Bill Rawls
Posted 2/16/23

Could Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) be contributing to your symptoms? Listen to what Dr. Rawls has to say about this common Lyme coinfection. Learn more about EBV here.

Video Transcript

Question: How can I tell if I have reactivated Epstein-Barr?

Jenny Buttaccio: How would someone know if they had Epstein-Barr that was reactivated? And is there a test or a lab that would show them that?

Dr. Rawls: Yeah. Epstein-Barr is one that we know to test for. Again, my list is long and Epstein-Barr is just one of the things on it. But because it’s very common and the testing is there, it’s one that everybody tests for.

So I don’t think there’s anybody out there that doesn’t have reactivation of Epstein-Barr at some point, but it is a sign of this bigger reactivation picture. Right? So it’s not just Epstein-Barr. It’s chlamydia. It’s mycoplasma. It’s ureaplasma. It’s parvovirus. It’s everything you’ve been exposed to that buried in your tissues for your whole life. And we just don’t have the ability to test for all of that.

So Epstein-Barr is one of them. I am surprised if someone is tested for Epstein-Barr, and they don’t show reactivation of Epstein-Barr. You know, so if you’ve got that situation where your whole internal environment is compromised, and all the cells in your body are stressed, reactivation happens. And Epstein-Barr is a virus that pretty much everybody has.

Ninety-five percent of the world population carries Epstein-Barr. But hey, there’s toxoplasma, there’s chlamydia. There’s so many other things. You know, I just looked at chlamydia. It’s associated with atherosclerotic plaques, chronic lung disease, infertility, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s. The list just goes on and on.

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a bacteria that most all of us get when we’re children, and it stays dormant in our tissues. There are so many. And so just one, you know, it might have some value as a marker. Yes. If you get it checked, and you have reactivation of Epstein-Barr. Yeah. That shows that what I’m telling you is real. But it’s there whether you’re tested or not.

I felt like when I was having reactivation of Epstein-Barr, I just felt more viral, if that makes sense. But whether that was real or just perception is really hard to know.

Dr. Rawls is a physician who overcame Lyme disease through natural herbal therapy. You can learn more about Lyme disease in Dr. Rawls’ new best selling book, Unlocking Lyme.
You can also learn about Dr. Rawls’ personal journey in overcoming Lyme disease and fibromyalgia in his popular blog post, My Chronic Lyme Journey.