[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
Last Updated: Thursday, 13 September 2007, 08:02 GMT 09:02 UK
Stomach virus 'could trigger ME'
Tired woman
ME can be debilitating
US researchers have produced compelling evidence linking chronic fatigue syndrome to a stomach virus.

The researchers examined 165 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome - also known as ME (myalgic encephalitis) - and long-standing gut complaints.

More than 80% of samples were infected with an enterovirus, compared with just seven of 34 samples taken from healthy volunteers.

The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

The findings raise the question of whether antiviral drug therapy would be beneficial
Dr Charles Shepherd
M.E. Association

The finding may help explain why many patients with M.E. often have intermittent or persistent gut problems, including indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome.

Viral infections, such as Epstein Barr virus (glandular fever), cytomegalovirus, and parvovirus, are also known to produce many of the symptoms associated ME.



The researchers found that in a significant proportion of patients the initial enteroviral infection had occurred many years earlier.

Drug possibility

They said: "Although finding a chronic infection of the stomach may not directly prove a similar infection in the brain, muscle or heart, it opens up a new direction in the research for this elusive disease."

Dr Charles Shepherd, medical adviser to the ME Association, said the study would re-open the debate into whether persistent viral infection plays a role in the condition.

He said: "We know from previous research that enteroviruses, the group of viruses being investigated in this study, can trigger ME/CFS in some people.

"There is also some evidence that enteroviral infection can then persist in various parts of the body including muscle and brain - a finding that could help to explain why muscle and brain symptoms are so characteristic of the illness.

"The new clearly adds weight to this theory. The findings also raise the question of whether antiviral drug therapy would be beneficial in this particular sub-group of ME/CFS patients."

Chronic fatigue syndrome/M.E.
09 Feb 05 |  Medical notes

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit


Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific