A new international study led by researchers from UNSW Sydney’s Center for Healthy Brain Aging (CHeBA) has developed the first practical, five-year dementia risk prediction tool for stroke survivors—using only information that’s routinely collected in hospitals and clinics.

Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis arise when the immune system turns against the body itself. Yet for most of them, it remains unclear why this process begins. Researchers have now identified how the Epstein-Barr virus can, under specific conditions, initiate early multiple sclerosis-like damage in the brain. This offers a new perspective on how rare immune events may shape disease risk.