95% of Humanity is permanently infected with Epstein–Barr virus. For those with no immunity, it causes potentially fatal cancers and is recognized as the cause. For others, it causes minor health problems and is not even recognized as the cause. However, researchers, practitioners, and patients are becoming increasingly aware that a wide variety of chronic problems have their root in a severe EBV infection. EBV evades complete natural eradication by invading B lymphocytes and changing several of its active proteins to dormant variations that are not recognized by the immune system. To reproduce itself, the virus changes these back to their active versions, recognized by the MHC molecule HLA-B27 and presented on the cell membrane to advertise that it is infected and must be killed by a corresponding cytolytic T cell. The ensuing race between the proliferating virus and the cell-mediated adaptive destruction of its host cell determines how much of its progeny broadcasts into the system. In all cases, the B cell is destroyed and if the patient has a critical inoculum of EBV, they will have severely diminished humoral adaptive immunity and their immune system will be forced to fight most antigens with inflammation, despite its devastating side-effects.

Because the EBV dormant proteins never occur outside of a B cell, the immune system cannot be trained to recognize them. However, an invivo cell sorting flow cytometer using raman spectroscopy to identify infected blood cells could remove them while returning the cleansed blood to the patient similarly to dialysis. This could also be used to remove other persistent viruses, particularly those in the herpes family, as is EBV, but also those that infect T cells, notably HIV.