Mouse virus ‘not behind Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’

June 1, 2011 | Science / Technology | Written by

Washington, June 1: A new study by a group of researchers in California, Wisconsin and Illinois has debunked the findings of a previous report that linked mouse virus as a possible cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

The mouse virus is not the culprit in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, said University of California, San Francisco Professor Jay A. Levy and senior author on the study.

“There is no evidence of this mouse virus in human blood,” he said.

Most likely, Levy said, the mouse virus was detected two years ago in blood samples from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients because chemical reagents and cell lines used in the laboratory where it was identified were contaminated with the virus.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a somewhat mysterious illness with a range of symptoms, including muscle pain, insomnia, memory loss and overwhelming fatigue.

Several viruses have been named as possible causes, but none ever proved to be the culprit.

Levy worked with collaborators at the Wisconsin Viral Research Group in Milwaukee, the Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco, the Open Medicine Institute in Mountain View, CA and Abbott in Abbott Park, IL.

They examined blood samples from 61 patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, including 43 who had been previously reported as infected with the mouse-related virus XMRV.

But they found no evidence of XMRV or any other mouse-related virus.

The study was published this week by the journal Science. (ANI)