Epress.am News from Armenia
Do viruses cause chronic fatigue syndrome?
The answer isn’t clear, but there’s more evidence that suggests the idea might not be so far-fetched, writes Scott Hensley on the National Public Radio website.
Government scientists found that blood cells from people diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome were much more likely than samples from people without the condition to contain traces of genetic code from viruses that cause leukemia in mice.
Eighty-seven percent of samples from CFS patients (32 of 37) contained genetic fingerprints from murine leukemia viruses, which can also infect humans. Only 7 percent (3 of 44) of samples from normal blood donors show signs of the viruses.
The results bolster a controversial report last year that linked a related virus, XMRV, to chronic fatigue. One reason people have thought a virus might be to blame for the debilitating condition is that the symptoms resemble a bad case of the flu that doesn’t go away.
The National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Harvey Alter, senior author of the paper, said in a conference call with reporters, “It’s an association, but that’s all it is.” He was careful to say the findings don’t prove that a virus causes CFS.