Scientists finally zero in on a cause for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Scientists finally zero in on a cause for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Author cobster

Scientists are hopeful that a cause has finally been discovered for the baffling illness known as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Dubbed “yuppie flu” back in the 1980s as sufferers developed inexplicable and long-lasting exhaustion and achiness, chronic fatigue syndrome has baffled doctors for a couple of decades. 

 The discovery of a virus called XMRV in the blood of 68 out of 101 CFS patients has led scientists to believe they’ve nailed the cause, according to the Daily Mail. The study was published in the journal Science. Though 67 percent of CFS patients tested positive for XMRV, the virus only showed up in eight of 218 healthy people, according to the newspaper.
 

Lead scientist Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Nevada says additional blood tests showed that 95 percent of chronic fatigue syndrome patients had antibodies to the virus, which means they’d been infected with XMRV, reports the Daily Mail.

“With those numbers, I would say, yes, we’ve found the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome,” she told the Daily Mail. “We also have data showing that the virus attacks the human immune system.”
 

More study is necessary, Mikovits told the Daily Mail, but she said the research holds out hope that effective treatments for CFS may be on the way. Patients could be treated from a cocktail of drugs meant to fight AIDS, inflammation and cancer, according to the Daily Mail.

Symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome range from muscle pain and headaches to swollen lymph nodes and sore throats. Memory and concentration problems also are common. About 4 million people in the U.S. have chronic fatigue syndrome, according to the CFIDS Association of America, a charitable organization devoted to CFS.

Sign up to our RSS feed at TheTechnologyBlog.net