A new research in U.S. Journal of Clinical Pathology Chronic suggests that chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may be linked to a group of common viruses known to cause gut infections in a large percentage of patients, media reports said Monday.
The major symptom of the disease is severe fatigue that persists for at least six months, combining with symptoms such as muscle and joint pain, memory and concentration problems, depression, sleep problems, headaches, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and gastrointestinal problems.
The research, led by Dr. John Chia, an infectious disease specialist in private practice in Torrance, California, involved with 165 patients who have longstanding stomach complaints, some of whom suffer from CFS.
Researchers compared the stomach tissue specimens of the patients who suffer from CFS with those of health people.
More than 80 percent of the specimens from the CFS patients show evidence of viral particles in the gastrointestinal tract compared with the number of only 20 percent of the specimens from healthy people.
The biopsies tests were also done to make a comparison between the subjects who suffer from CFS and the ones who don't.
The result shows that the stomach viral infections found in the experiment can produce many of the symptoms associated with CFS, and patients with CFS often have intermittent or persistent gut problems, according to the research.
Despite extensive research, no cause-and-effect relationship between an active infectious agent and chronic fatigue syndrome has been established.
"This is an illness with a lot of different origins, and to assume that its cause is due to an infection because the symptoms are similar to an infection is a great leap," said Dr. James Jones with chronic viral diseases branch of the Curriculum Development Council.
