A multicenter virome analysis of blood, feces, and saliva in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
Thomas Briese, Rafal Tokarz, Lucinda Bateman, Xiaoyu Che, Cheng Guo, Komal Jain, Vishal Kapoor, Susan Levine, Mady Hornig, Alexandra Oleynik, Phenix‐Lan Quan, Wai H. Wong, Brent L. Williams, Suzanne D. Vernon, Nancy G. Klimas, Daniel L. Peterson, José G. Montoya, W. Ian Lipkin
Abstract
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is estimated to affect 0.4%-2.5% of the global population. Most cases are unexplained; however, some patients describe an antecedent viral infection or response to antiviral medications. We report here a multicenter study for the presence of viral nucleic acid in blood, feces, and saliva of patients with ME/CFS using polymerase chain reaction and high-throughput sequencing. We found no consistent group-specific differences other than a lower prevalence of anelloviruses in cases compared to healthy controls. Our findings suggest that future investigations into viral infections in ME/CFS should focus on adaptive immune responses rather than surveillance for viral gene products.