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HIV Drugs May Fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Researchers identify new virus in majority of patients

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 24, 2010 12:15 PM CDT

(Newser) – There may be hope for the 4 million Americans suffering from the baffling ailment known as chronic fatigue syndrome: A new study firms up the theory that it's caused by a virus, raising the prospect of the first effective treatment. Researchers say they've identified a mouse-related retrovirus in the vast majority of patients, and they think that drugs currently used to treat HIV (an unrelated retrovirus) might help, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The study is anything but a slam dunk, notes the Los Angeles Times, and a co-author says the results "raise as many questions as they answer." But a spate of government studies already underway could settle many of those questions within the year—including whether it might someday be possible to develop a standard test for the ailment.

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HIV Drugs May Fight Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Researchers identify new virus in majority of patients

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medical breakthrough • public health • chronic fatigue syndrome • retrovirus

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100,000 trauma patients could benefit

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Large study looked at other possible drug benefits

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They cause pneumonia by letting virus into lungs

25 California Babies May Have Been Exposed to TB

Infected person visited 2 neonatal intensive care wards

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California meth user was risking public health

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