Is a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome?

[groovedaddy]

Could a virus be the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome?

A study published last week in the journal Science suggested that might be the case, reporting that many patients who had the syndrome were infected with a recently discovered virus.

Chronic fatigue syndrome has long been a medical mystery and the subject of debate, sometimes bitter, among doctors, researchers and patients. It affects at least one million Americans, causing extreme fatigue, muscle and joint pain, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating and other symptoms. Its cause is unknown, symptoms can last for years and there is no effective treatment. Researchers disagree about whether it is one disease or a collection of symptoms that may have different causes in different patients. It has sometimes been stigmatized as more mental than physical, with patients labeled neurotic, depressed or hypochondriacal. Many patients find even the name of the disorder offensive, a not-so-subtle hint that it is not a real disease.

The new report has intrigued scientists, been seen as vindication by some patients and inspired hope for a treatment.

“I just feel like the whole future has changed for us,” said Anne Ursu, 36, a writer living in Cleveland who has had the syndrome in the past.

But the new study is not conclusive, and a great deal of work remains to be done to find out whether the new virus really does play a role. Just detecting it in patients does not prove it is what made them sick; people with the syndrome may have some other underlying problem that makes them susceptible to the virus, which could be just a passenger in their cells.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/health/13fatigue.html?th&emc=th

[Warpy]

1. I just hope their research is solid

and that it is duplicated by others.

I hate it when things are first reported outside medically peer reviewed literature. It always makes me suspicious.

However, I have always expected a retrovirus as a component of a lot of autoimmune illnesses. They knew in the late 80s that patients with SLE and SS often had false positives to HIV antibody tests.

Isolating a retrovirus from a patient isn't an easy thing to do. I just hope their science has been solid and can be reproduced.

[laughingliberal]

2. University of Reno is beginning a study on a possible treatment

A recent article I found after our local news reported on it:

http://www.unr.edu/news/templates/details.aspx?articleid=5207&zoneid=8

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

3. I would believe it.

4 months of Lyme disease made me a believer.