Stomach Virus a Culprit in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chia started looking in the viruses' "area of replication," meaning the stomach. The viruses are resistant to stomach acids.

They eventually took stomach biopsies and performed endoscopies on 165 CFS patients, all of whom had had longstanding gastrointestinal complaints (these are common in CFS patients).

Eighty-two percent of the specimens from CFS patients tested positive for enteroviral particles, compared with just 20 percent of the samples from healthy people. In many patients, the initial infection had taken place years earlier (up to 20 years).

Partly, Chia's work was possible because of technological breakthroughs, Klimas pointed out. He also looked in the right "compartment."

"People were busy looking in the bloodstream, but he looked in the gut. He looked in the right compartment and, lo and behold, he found the viruses," she said. "It depends where you look, what you see."

Chia believes that enteroviruses may cause half of cases of CFS. The disease can also be triggered by other infections.

"It makes sense to me as an infectious disease. This makes all the sense in the world," he said. "If this is a virus, it doesn't destroy the cells, it hides inside the cells. It's one smart little virus."

Chia's son has recovered from the disease although, the elder Chia reported, "he spent a lot of time in the laboratory. Without him, I would not have done this."

More information

For more on chronic fatigue syndrome, visit the CFIDS Association of America.

SOURCES: John Chia, M.D., infectious disease physician, Torrance, Calif.; Nancy Klimas, M.D., professor, medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and director, Gulf War Illness Center, VA Medical Center; Sept. 13, 2007,Journal of Clinical Pathologyonline