Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine logoLink to Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
. 1988 Jun;81(6):326–329. doi: 10.1177/014107688808100608

Postviral fatigue syndrome: persistence of enterovirus RNA in muscle and elevated creatine kinase.

L C Archard 1, N E Bowles 1, P O Behan 1, E J Bell 1, D Doyle 1
PMCID: PMC1291623  PMID: 3404526

Abstract

Enterovirus-specific probes have been prepared by reverse transcription of conserved sequences in purified Coxsackie B2 virus genomic RNA and molecular cloning techniques. These probes were used in quantitative slot blot hybridizations to test for the presence of enterovirus-specific RNA in skeletal muscle biopsy specimens from 96 patients who had suffered from the postviral fatigue syndrome myalgic encephalomyelitis for up to 20 years. Biopsy specimens from 20 patients were positive for the presence of virus-specific RNA with hybridization signals more than three standard deviations greater than the mean of the normal muscle controls. Biopsies from the remaining 76 patients were indistinguishable from the controls. These data show that enterovirus RNA is present in skeletal muscle of some patients with postviral fatigue syndrome up to 20 years after onset of disease and suggest that a persistent virus infection has an aetiological role.

Full text

PDF
326

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arnold D. L., Bore P. J., Radda G. K., Styles P., Taylor D. J. Excessive intracellular acidosis of skeletal muscle on exercise in a patient with a post-viral exhaustion/fatigue syndrome. A 31P nuclear magnetic resonance study. Lancet. 1984 Jun 23;1(8391):1367–1369. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)91871-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Behan P. O., Behan W. M., Bell E. J. The postviral fatigue syndrome--an analysis of the findings in 50 cases. J Infect. 1985 May;10(3):211–222. doi: 10.1016/s0163-4453(85)92488-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bowles N. E., Dubowitz V., Sewry C. A., Archard L. C. Dermatomyositis, polymyositis, and Coxsackie-B-virus infection. Lancet. 1987 May 2;1(8540):1004–1007. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(87)92271-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bowles N. E., Richardson P. J., Olsen E. G., Archard L. C. Detection of Coxsackie-B-virus-specific RNA sequences in myocardial biopsy samples from patients with myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy. Lancet. 1986 May 17;1(8490):1120–1123. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(86)91837-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Calder B. D., Warnock P. J. Coxsackie B infection in a Scottish general practice. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1984 Jan;34(258):15–19. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Calder B. D., Warnock P. J., McCartney R. A., Bell E. J. Coxsackie B viruses and the post-viral syndrome: a prospective study in general practice. J R Coll Gen Pract. 1987 Jan;37(294):11–14. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Feinberg A. P., Vogelstein B. "A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity". Addendum. Anal Biochem. 1984 Feb;137(1):266–267. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(84)90381-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Friman G., Schiller H. H., Schwartz M. Distubed neuromuscular transmission in viral infections. Scand J Infect Dis. 1977;9(2):99–103. doi: 10.3109/inf.1977.9.issue-2.08. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hall J. L., Dudley L., Dobner P. R., Lewis S. A., Cowan N. J. Identification of two human beta-tubulin isotypes. Mol Cell Biol. 1983 May;3(5):854–862. doi: 10.1128/mcb.3.5.854. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hamblin T. J., Hussain J., Akbar A. N., Tang Y. C., Smith J. L., Jones D. B. Immunological reason for chronic ill health after infectious mononucleosis. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1983 Jul 9;287(6385):85–88. doi: 10.1136/bmj.287.6385.85. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jamal G. A., Hansen S. Electrophysiological studies in the post-viral fatigue syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1985 Jul;48(7):691–694. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.48.7.691. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McCartney R. A., Banatvala J. E., Bell E. J. Routine use of mu-antibody-capture ELISA for the serological diagnosis of Coxsackie B virus infections. J Med Virol. 1986 Jul;19(3):205–212. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890190302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. McEvedy C. P., Beard A. W. Royal Free epidemic of 1955: a reconsideration. Br Med J. 1970 Jan 3;1(5687):7–11. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5687.7. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Schwartz M. S., Swash M., Gross M. Benign postinfection polymyositis. Br Med J. 1978 Nov 4;2(6147):1256–1257. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6147.1256. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Southern P., Oldstone M. B. Medical consequences of persistent viral infection. N Engl J Med. 1986 Feb 6;314(6):359–367. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198602063140606. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tobi M., Morag A., Ravid Z., Chowers I., Feldman-Weiss V., Michaeli Y., Ben-Chetrit E., Shalit M., Knobler H. Prolonged atypical illness associated with serological evidence of persistent Epstein-Barr virus infection. Lancet. 1982 Jan 9;1(8263):61–64. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(82)90210-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine are provided here courtesy of Royal Society of Medicine Press

RESOURCES