Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME (myalgic encephalitis), is linked to a stomach virus, suggests research published ahead of print in Journal of Clinical Pathology.
The researchers base their findings on 165 patients with ME, all of whom were subjected to endoscopy because of longstanding gut complaints.
Endoscopy involves the threading of a long tube with a camera on the tip through the gullet into the stomach.
Specimens of stomach tissue were also taken to search for viral proteins and compared with specimens taken from healthy people and patients with other gut diseases none of whom had been diagnosed with ME.
Patients with ME often have intermittent or persistent gut problems, including indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome.
And viral infections, such as Epstein Barr virus (glandular fever), cytomegalovirus, and parvovirus, among others, produce many of the symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Enteroviruses, which infect the bowel, cause severe but short lasting respiratory and gut infections.
There are more than 70 different types, and they head for the central nervous system, heart and muscles.
Most of the biopsy specimens from patients with gut problems showed evidence of mild long term inflammation, although few were infected with Helicobacter pylori, a common bacterial infection associated with inflammation.
But more than 80% of the specimens from the ME patients tested positive for enteroviral particles compared with only seven of the 34 specimens from healthy people.
In a significant proportion of patients, the initial infection had occurred many years earlier.
Source: BMJ Specialty Journals
Related stories:
International team reveals first prognosticator of survival in aggressive cancer
The tumor suppressor gene pRb2/p130 may provide the first independent prognostic biomarker in cases of soft tissue sarcoma (STS), according to an international collaboration of researchers, including scientists at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, the Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Siena and the Center of Oncological Research of Mercogliano (CROM) in Avellino, Italy.
Research examines variations of rare lung disease
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM, is a rare but serious lung disease that may cause severe respiratory symptoms in patients. The often-fatal disease has no cure.
Bone marrow stem cells may help control inflammatory bowel disease
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have found that infusions of a particular bone marrow stem cell appeared to protect gastrointestinal tissue from autoimmune attack in a mouse model. In their report published in the journal
Stem Cells, the team from the MGH Center for Engineering in Medicine report that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), known to control several immune system activities, allowed the regeneration of the gastrointestinal lining in mice with a genetic mutation leading to multiorgan autoimmune disease.
Breaking the 'mucus barrier' with a new drug delivery system
Chemical engineers from Johns Hopkins University have broken the "mucus barrier," engineering the first drug-delivery particles capable of passing through human mucus — regarded by many as nearly impenetrable — and carrying medication that could treat a range of diseases. Those conditions include lung cancer, cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis, the research noted in a presentation scheduled for the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Chemical liberated by leaky gut may allow HIV to infect the brain
In up to 20 percent of people infected with HIV, the virus manages to escape from the bloodstream and cross into the brain, resulting in HIV-associated dementia and other cognitive disorders. Now, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found strong evidence that a component of the cell walls of intestinal bacteria—a chemical present in high levels in the blood of HIV-infected people—helps HIV to penetrate the usually-impregnable blood brain barrier (BBB). The findings, published in the August issue of the
Journal of Virology, could lead to strategies for preventing HIV from entering the brain and causing serious complications.
Researchers to study lyme-like illness in Texas
Tao Lin, D.V.M., and Steven J. Norris, Ph.D., both with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, have been named grant recipients of the Norman Hackerman Advanced Research Program (ARP) by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. They will receive $150,000 over two years to support their research into conflicting reports about the infectious nature and causative agent of Southern-Tick Associated Rash Illness (STARI) in Texas and other southern states.
Pathogen that causes disease in cattle also associated with Crohn's disease
People with Crohn's disease (CD) are seven-fold more likely to have in their gut tissues the bacterium that causes a digestive-tract disease in cattle called Johne's disease. The role this bacterium may or may not play in causing CD is a top research priority, according to a new report released by the American Academy of Microbiology. The reports points out that the cause of CD is unknown, and the possible role of this bacterium—which could conceivably be passed up the food chain to people—has received too little attention from the research community.
Study shows why treatment isn't effective for HIV
University of Minnesota researchers have answered a key question as to why antiretroviral therapy isn't effective in restoring immunity in HIV-infected patients.