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ME/CFS South Australia Inc supports the needs of sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related illnesses. We do this by providing services and information to members.
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The Autoimmune Virus? Groundbreaking EBV Finding Could Help Explain ME/CFS
Thursday 3 May 2018
 A large, complex and very common virus, EBV is responsible for infectious mononucleosis and appears to contribute to numerous autoimmune disorders. |
The Autoimmune Virus? Groundbreaking EBV Finding Could Help Explain ME/CFS
“I’ve been a co-author in almost 500 papers. This one is more important than all of the rest put together. It is a capstone to a career in medical research,” – Harley
I sensed some awe in Ron Davis’s voice as he pushed for more understanding of Epstein-Barr Virus’s effects in ME/CFS during a talk at the Brain Science conference. Davis is not to my knowledge finding much evidence of EBV reactivation in the severe ME/CFS patient study – a surprise – but he is very interested in what happened during that initial EBV infection, which appears to have triggered chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in so many people.
He’s not alone in his “admiration” for the virus. Simmaron’s Advisor, Dr. Daniel Peterson, whose clinical practice and research stemmed from an outbreak in the Lake Tahoe region of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, has tracked EBV in patients for decades, noting very high titers to EBV and other herpes viruses in subsets of patients.
It’s not surprising that these two important figures have had their eyes on EBV. EBV, after all, is kind of in a league of its own. An invader of B and epithelial cells, the 50th anniversary of its discovery was recently celebrated with numerous reviews. Epstein-Barr was discovered in 1966 by Anthony Epstein and Yvonne Barr. It was the first human virus shown to cause cancer. The sequencing of its large genome in 1995 helped launch the genomic era.
One of the more massive and complicated viruses, it’s one of the very few viruses that’s able to avoid elimination: once EBV infects your B-cells, it’s in your body to stay. It’s able to effectively hide from the immune system and reactivate just enough so that when the infected B-cells die it can move on to other cells.
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