Covid-19 infection may reactivate several latent viruses in body: Study.

ISLAMABAD -- Covid-19 can reactivate several latent viruses lurking in the body's cells following previous infections, particularly in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a study.

The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, contribute to our understanding of the causes of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME/CFS, and prospects of reaching a diagnosis.

Severe, long-term fatigue, post-exertional malaise, pain and sleep problems are characteristic signs of the disease.

The causes of the condition are not known with certainty, although it has been established that the onset in most cases follows a viral or bacterial infection.

"Our study now shows that objective measurements are available that show physiological differences in the body's reaction to viruses between ME patients and healthy controls," said Anders Rosen, professor at Linkoping University, Sweden, and leader of the study.

The extensive spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus during the Covid-19 pandemic gave researchers a unique opportunity to study what happens in people with ME/CFS during a mild virus infection and compare this with what happens in healthy controls, Medical Daily reported.

The research team, in collaboration with the Bragee Clinic in Stockholm, initiated a study early in the pandemic, involving 95 patients who had been diagnosed with ME/CFS and 110 healthy controls. They provided blood and saliva samples on four occasions during one year.

The researchers analysed samples for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and latent viruses, and found a special fingerprint of antibodies against common herpes viruses in saliva.

One of these viruses was the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which has infected nearly everybody. Most people experience a mild...

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