Last Update: January 2012

Do you have a chronic sore throat infection and/or a constantly congested nose/sinuses that persist for many months or years? There is an infectious respiratory virus currently going around which causes these symptoms, and many other chronic symptoms, as follows (you may not have all of them):

EARLY SYMPTOMS (first few weeks):

✔ Chronic Sore Throat that never fully heals (but many don’t get this).
✔ Constant Congested Nose/Sinuses/Post Nasal Drip with unusually thick mucus.

ADDITIONAL SYMPTOMS (appear after a few months):

✔ Depression and low mood.
✔ Generalized Anxiety Disorder – anxiety which can get VERY extreme.
✔ Powerful Psychological Changes and cognition disruptions.
✔ Loss of Desires and sense of pleasure (anhedonia); loss of libido.
✔ Social Withdrawal – escaping social activities more and more.
✔ Loss of Drive and motivation (athymhormia).
✔ Memory Problems, both short-term and long-term recall.
✔ Unusual Sleepiness and a tendency to fall asleep more.
✔ Chronic Fatigue – notable loss of energy.
✔ Stomach Ache and Pains, with stomach / bowel rumbling.
✔ Pins and Needles (persistent paresthesias), especially in the legs.
✔ Tooth Decay a sudden onset of tooth decay (dental caries/cavities).
✔ Receding Gums a rapid onset of periodontitis, and more plaque on teeth.

LATER SYMPTOMS (appear at approximately 12 to 18 months):

✔ Slight Wrinkling of the Skin with unusual, fine-textured wrinkles.
✔ Weak Legs and hips: legs and hip girdle feel loose.
✔ Weight Gain on Belly (Abdomen) — central obesity.
✔ Subtle Loss of Hearing Acuity in identifying sounds.
✔ Progressive Hearing Loss in elderly.
✔ Emotional Frailty, emotional lability, emotional flatness; irritability.
✔ Less Frequently: tinnitus; blurred vision; joint pains.

OTHER POSSIBLE SEQUELAE:

✔ Pericarditis, Myocarditis and Sudden Heart Attack in the previously healthy.
✔ Chronic, Unrelenting Systemic Inflammation.
✔ Viral Meningitis (can appear many months after the initial infection).

This virus also causes immunocompromised states, so secondary opportunistic infections will arise more frequently once someone has this chronic sore throat virus. This is a persistent virus, and once caught, it does not seem to resolve, just like the unresolved infections found in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It has been observed that this chronic sore throat virus gradually transmits from person-to-person through normal household contact, so once one person has it at home, most other household members will catch this virus within a year or so. This chronic sore throat virus has an unusually rapid incubation period – typically around 12 hours from time you catch the virus, to the point when the first sore throat or gastrointestinal symptoms appear (after which the fever lasts 1-2 days).

The identity of this virus has not yet been determined, so for our purposes here, we are calling it the “chronic sore throat virus” (although as we will see below, this virus may well be a virulent new strain of Coxsackie B virus).

A few people have left comments on this site (see below), saying that they have already heard by word of mouth that there is “a nasty virus out there“.

Here is my account of how I caught this chronic sore throat virus, and how it gradually began infecting my whole body.

This infection began with a bad sore throat that I caught several years ago. Being in excellent physical shape at that time, I thought nothing of it. I had no rash on my body, though the back of my throat and the rear arch of my soft palette and were red and inflamed, looking a bit like a herpangina sore throat, but without pain, blisters or ulcers. I paid little attention to it. Several weeks later, however, I noticed that my sore throat had not cleared up, and instead, the infection started spreading. This was weird, because I am very healthy, HIV negative, with no previous medical problems. Usually I fight off colds and infections very quickly. Yet this sore throat would not go away.

Within a month, this chronic sore throat virus had spread to my nose, which started producing unusually thick and heavy mucus. The nose (and sinuses) thus becomes blocked and stuffy, and must be regularly cleared of this thick mucus every hour or so. (This thick nasal mucus congestion is now a permanent symptom). A constant stuffy nose like this is classified as chronic sinusitis, chronic rhinitis, post nasal drip, or rhinorrhea.

Next my lungs became infected, leading to a chest infection and a dry cough. Soon after this, the virus reached my stomach, which started aching a little and produced gas and bubbling sounds, which created some belching (my rumbling, aching stomach is also a permanent – but thankfully intermittent – symptom). The virus also spread to my intestines, where it also produced gas (flatulence), bowel rumbles and bowel bloating (now all permanent symptoms).

After another month, this viral infection manifested a distinct new phase: intense mental state changes suddenly appeared. These disturbing psychological symptoms started with a feeling of being very tense, generally anxious and uncomfortable, especially with people (even with friends and family). I became very weak mentally. My strength of mind rapidly disintegrated, and in particular, I became very frail and feeble emotionally. Other people seemed to perturb my mind, so it became quite unpleasant to socialize.

As a result of these psychological changes, I started avoiding social contact more and more, just because I found it a mental strain to be with people, even if they were good friends. Avoiding company made me lonely, yet being with people caused severe tension. This extreme general anxiety made it impossible for me to continue to go to work, so I left my job.

Additionally, just reading or listening to facts and ideas created strong tensions in my mind, as I tried to process the information. So it seemed I could not cope with structured information very well either, even from a book, television or radio. This is more or less psychosis. As a coping strategy, I limited my time with people and information to help reduce this unpleasant mental tension.

(NOTE: if this sounds like the symptoms you are experiencing yourself, see here for a rapid and effective anxiety treatment).

Then I quickly became very apathetic. The apathy was towards all sorts of tasks and activities. My normal pro-active ‘can do’ attitude was replaced by a ‘not interested’ feeling – totally out of character. I am normally a motivated, enthusiastic and highly organized person. However, as this infection and its psychological effects progressed, I began to lose interest in the usual pleasures of life (a condition called anhedonia), including pleasure from sex. There was also a large loss of libido. Furthermore, much of my enthusiasm, drive and motivation just evaporated away (a condition called athymhormia). I also experienced some short-term memory difficulties, and ability to concentrate which caused problems in my day-to-day activities. There was some intelligence loss, particularly in my verbal, spelling and grammatical skills, and I found it a lot harder to recall words, names and other information from my long-term memory. In fact, I found myself becoming less articulate, often mispronouncing words, and forgetting names. My facility with grammar became diminished.

Additionally, my physical body movements started getting a little more clumsy; I seemed to become physically less coordinated.

To sum up, psychologically, I became: anxious, depressed, avoiding social contact, unmotivated, emotionally delicate, confused, forgetful, clumsy, uncoordinated, with a dulled intellect, decreased verbal intelligence, and an impaired memory.

My virus also spread to friends and family (and then later to their friends and families), but quite slowly. For example, I would infect someone new only every month or two (just by normal household and social contact). That newly infected person would initially come down with the same herpangina-like sore throat symptom, and/or a gastrointestinal upset. Then, in most cases, they progressed to similar long-term symptoms, though usually not as severe as mine. Only around 1 in every 10 individuals get the more severe long-term symptoms. In certain people (but not in my case) this nasty virus caused uncharacteristic and irrational outbursts of sustained aggression a few weeks after catching it. For most people catching this virus, there seems to be a delay of a few weeks to a month before the first psychological/neurological symptoms begin to manifest.

(As an aside, these symptoms make me wonder whether a virulent virus such as this one may be responsible for the recent worldwide rise in autism, since its psychological manifestations relates to this condition. Certainly, a lot of previously normal people that caught this same virus have reported that their “mind is definitely not functioning right”. And when this virus hits a whole family, sometimes, as a result of the mental changes, a parent can display a permanent loss of loving feeling towards their children, and become more emotionally distant from their children; family relations in general turning to a more cold pragmatism. People with this virus often start to avoid social contact, becoming less interested in other people, and being reluctant to socialize. I noticed within my own mind that I lost the pleasure that normally arises from seeing friends and making new friendships; I think this is part of the reason this virus makes social activity less appealing. Another reason is the increased stress and mental tension, so you find you cannot relax in company. In the longer term, irritability become a prominent mental symptom too.)

The next symptoms I experienced were more and more fatigue and sleepiness (hypersomnia). I seemed to fall asleep all the time, even when I was not that tired. Perhaps this virus has affected the area of the brain that controls sleep (the hypothalamus). As this sleepiness and fatigue progressed, I wondered if my condition could be classed as chronic fatigue syndrome (also called myalgic encephalomyelitis). There was also a large loss of appetite.

Four months after first catching this virus, a pins and needles or skin crawling sensation began to appear, first in my legs, but quickly spreading to all my body. There were constant sharp prickling sensations everywhere, which felt like they were located just beneath my skin; these prickling sensations felt like lots of tiny bites, or tiny needle pricks. The severity of this prickling sensation varied from one day to the next. Sometimes the pins and needles would disappear for a week, but always return before long. These type of sensations are called paresthesias, and in my case, this was chronic paresthesia. In addition, a mild sense of numbness in the limbs also appeared.

The next set symptoms to arise were a loss of taste and smell. In the case of the loss of smell (called anosmia): some weeks this would return a bit, but then the next week it would more or less disappear again. (It continued in these up-and-down cycles for two years. However, after several years, my olfactory capabilities have slowly improved, but have still not returned to anywhere near their original form.)

My oral health was then affected: my gums, previously extremely healthy and pink, began receding quite noticeably. Lots of brown plaque was suddenly deposited on my previously white teeth. No matter how much I brush it away, the plaque still comes back. Along with this increased plaque formation, and in spite of frequent tooth brushing, new dental caries (tooth decay/cavities) suddenly appeared. Previous to this, my oral health was excellent. Therefore, it seems I developed periodontitis within a matter of months. This gum disease may be a manifestation of the immune-weakening effect this virus creates in the body, allowing bacteria to thrive and colonize the oral region. In addition, gum tissue can be directly attacked by tissue-dissolving enzymes created by viruses such as enterovirus and Epstein-Barr virus. (As an aside: gum disease is statically associated with cardiovascular disease; some researchers hypothesize that the reason for this is that bacteria from the gums may migrate to the heart and cause disease there too. However, observing the how rapidly periodontal and heart problems were precipitated by this virus in several people, probably a better hypothesis is that a chronic viral infection in fact simultaneously causes both periodontal and heart disease. In other words, periodontal disease does not directly cause heart disease, but rather a viral infection may be a single cause of both.)

Next, I noticed my vision began to deteriorate. So I had my eyes tested; there was nothing wrong with my eyes or my ophthalmic prescription. My vision seemed “muddy”, rather than optically blurred. For example, looking at say black text on a white page or screen, the letters are focussed, yet are slightly “smudged” and muddied by the white background. I also noticed I could not distinguish subtle changes of shade or color so well. My vision became similar to what you see when you turn up the image contrast on a computer or television: bright yet lacking the shades of detail. (I later discovered that loss of visual contrast sensitivity is often caused by toxins generated by infections.)

About 12 to 18 months after first catching this virus, more strange symptoms manifested: a fine, crepe paper-like wrinkling of the skin began appearing all over my body. This fine wrinkled skin first appears on the tops of the hands (see picture). The skin could also be described as scaly; it also shows a very slight red, blotchy quality beneath its surface (but this is barely noticeable). I am guessing that this wrinkling is the result of collagen or elastin damage under the skin, caused by my viral infection destroying these connective-tissues. Although this skin wrinkling is a relatively mild symptom – and not everybody with this virus gets it – this rare phenomenon is mentioned in case it helps anyone to identify my virus. This wrinkling is not normal aging skin; it is definitely caused by the virus. The closest fit to my skin’s appearance I could find is a disease called mid-dermal elastolysis. This odd skin damage caused by this virus is usually only noticeable in people older than 30 or thereabouts. Even for people 30 to 50 say, this odd crepe paper-like wrinkling is a slight and subtle symptom. It is most prominent in people older than 50 (and very distinct from normal aging wrinkles). More images of mid-dermal elastolysis are found here.

Another symptom that manifested at this 12 to 18 month stage was weak legs and a loosening hip girdle. I suspect that the virus may be damaging the connective tissue in the ligaments of my pelvis, and/or causing neuromuscular damage (damaging the nerves in the pelvis and leg muscles). The result is a slightly less than sure walking gait. To a much lesser extent, my shoulder joints and shoulder muscles also feel a little loose. But the main area of looseness is my pelvis, where my pelvis-leg joints feel spongy and lacking in normal firmness. This leg weakness is constant: it does NOT vary hour to hour, nor day to day. There is no loss of strength or spasm in the muscles either (except occasional cramps in my calf muscles). Differential diagnosis: in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), weak legs are a common symptom, but a variable one. In GAD the legs are fine one minute, and the next they suddenly get weak and can almost give way, due to nervous system fluctuations. But my case is not like GAD: my leg weakness is constant, never varied. And not that weak. So the wrinkly skin symptoms and pelvis laxity symptoms might actually be caused by the same mechanism: collagen or elastin connective-tissue destruction of the ligaments, and the skin. However, the pelvis and leg weakness may also be a result of neuromuscular damage caused by the virus.

Beginning at this 18 month stage, weight gain appears in the belly area (central obesity). Even in people who are lean and muscular, this abdomen fat will appear, but with the rest of their body — the non-belly areas – generally remaining lean. (Note that the appearance of abdomen fat can be a symptom of lowered growth hormone output from the pituitary gland.)

After 2 or 3 years, an additional skin symptom appears: namely the color of the skin on the upper chest area becomes a little red/pink, and the skin texture in this area gets quite thick and oily (or waxy) in feel; this upper chest symptoms is called a heliotrope rash. New moles with a rough texture may appear on the skin; see this picture that I took of one. These type of moles are called dysplastic nevi.

This virus generally seems to cause immune system weakening, and this results in secondary opportunistic infections often arising, for example: bad toothache, ear infections, eye styes, fungal skin infections, urinary-tract infections, etc (all requiring antibiotics or antimicrobials to clear). These opportunistic infections never appeared before contracting this virus. The highest immunosuppression occurs in the first few years of infection; after that, the immunosuppression seems to abate.

Furthermore, it seems that the virus itself, even years after first catching it, will occasional spontaneously cause an organ infection, such as the heart and its epithelial covering (acute pericarditis), and has spontaneously caused aseptic meningitis, years after first catching it. This virus appears to have a strong affinity for creating persistent infection of the mucous and serous membranes throughout the body.

Summary of viral characteristics: this virus is a systemic, respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological virus, which persists chronically in the body, causes muscle weakening, chronic fatigue, and seems to have the ability to enter or affect the central nervous system and cause powerful and permanent mental state alterations such as anhedonia, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression; it also seems to weaken the immune system, resulting in an increase of other opportunistic (eg: bacterial and fungal) infections. The virus has a very fast incubation period of around 12 hours. The fastest incubation time observed was 8 hours from first exposure to onset of initial symptoms. This rapid incubation has been observed in more than one person.

Other Symptoms: A whole cluster of other symptoms appear during the long course of this infection, including:

The above symptoms were observed in many people that caught this virus. Generally, I have only listed symptoms when at least two (and preferably more) people infected with this virus have manifested them; this is just to avoid the possibility of listing any co-incidental symptoms that may have appeared in infected people that are unconnected to this virus.

Certain individuals that are more severely affected by this virus can experience intense suicidal thoughts (suicidal ideation) every moment of every day, for several years, as if suicide is the only option that makes sense. These constant and harrowing suicidal thoughts are, I guess, a result of the high levels of anhedonia (complete loss of the capacity for joy and pleasure) and mental chaos induced by this virus. However even knowing that this suicidal mind state is caused by the virus does not help mitigate its piercing intensity. And although most people do not necessarily act on their suicidal ideations, the unrelenting presence of these thoughts shows just how profoundly this virus can disturb the normal brain chemistry of certain individuals it infects.

I have found that taking SSRI anti-depresant drugs (such as citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline) greatly increases the intensity of these suicidal thoughts, within hours of first taking these drugs; so be very wary if you try SSRI anti-depresants. Conversely, the powerful anti-depresant drug imipramine was helpful for both my anhedonia and depression, and did not (at least in my case) amplify my suicidal ideations.

Note: if you are experiencing these symptoms as a result of this virus (or some other virus), the suggestions on the treatments page may help.

This virus appears to have precipitated several sudden heart attacks in my social group, and may have caused one fatal heart attack.

Furthermore, this virus is not cleared from the body: it spreads throughout the body and central nervous system, remaining as a chronic, persistent and active infection. Although some of its symptoms improve, others symptoms seem to get worse. The mental state changes seem semi-permanent; the weak pelvic girdle and skin wrinkling seem to get a little worse over time. A more comprehensive symptoms summary is given below.

As with many respiratory infections, once one person catches this virus, it will spread to most other members of their household. However, this happens slowly: it takes a year or more before everyone in the household catches this virus. So clearly the long-term contagiousness of this virus is moderately low. Nevertheless, in time, most of the household will have it, and will typically display either a chronically-congested nose (or sinus cavities) with thick, viscous mucus, or a chronic sore throat (or both), plus many of the psychological symptoms such as more fatigue, slight loss of short-term memory, slightly more social withdrawal, and some loss of motivation. The symptoms of weak legs and fine skin wrinkles tend to appear some time later. Generally, once an individual catches this virus, they are not quite themselves anymore. However, there is a range of individual responses to this virus: some people become badly depressed and distressed; others are more lucky, and their mental symptoms appear much milder. Only say 10% suffer the more severe mental symptoms and personality changes that I experienced; but everyone experiences some mental state change as a result of this virus (and these changes remain permanently). Approximately a third of the people who catch this virus get the chronic sore throat, and about two-thirds get a chronic production of thick nasal mucus. At best, this virus causes a noticeable lowering of the quality of life in people who catch it, but around 10% of people will suffer more severe problems.

None of the 10 or so medical professionals I saw were able to identify this disease or the pathogen causing it. This infection is probably a virus (rather than a bacterial or fungal disease), because three separate bacterial cultures that my doctors conducted (one of which at a university hospital infectious disease center), showed negative results.

The strongest evidence that my pathogen is a virus (and not a bacterium) comes from its unusually rapid incubation period: the incubation period is often as fast as 8 to 12 hours. This extremely rapid incubation has been observed on several occasions, in several people (when both the exact time of exposure to the pathogen, and the exact time of the appearance of its first symptoms are known). Few bacteria can incubate that fast, and the ones than can are easily detectable in a bacterial culture. Thus analysis of the incubation period suggests we are almost certainly dealing with a virus.

One expert I communicated with said this pathogen was very likely an enterovirus of some type, such as a Coxsackie B virus. Enteroviruses and their symptoms are discussed at length below.

Should any readers have the same symptoms themselves and wish to share their experience and circumstances, please leave a comment below (click here). One purpose of this web site is to find people in a similar situation, and to share information and experiences. When posting a comment, you may want to make up an online name for yourself for anonymity purposes.

Note: there are many causes of chronic sore throat; so your chronic sore throat is unlikely to be caused by this virus, unless you have very similar symptoms. So for anyone with a sore throat for a few days: don’t panic, it is probably not this virus.

You may wish to go to the treatments page, to see which supplements have proved beneficial in treating the symptoms of this virus.

For those interested in a more precise description of the clinical signs and symptoms of the virus described on this website, you may wish to go straight to the signs and symptoms summary section. There are also some basic considerations of the wider impact of this possibly new virus as it begins to spread.

In the next section, we will see that the virus I caught is likely to be a Coxsackie B virus of some new strain or type.

DIAGNOSIS

In this section, we will look at what viruses might be causing my various symptoms, and consider whether this virus I have might be new (or a new viral strain or subtype).

We will also see that the most likely diagnosis for the disease that I have developed from this virus is chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

How does chronic fatigue syndrome develop? Most common viruses, once you catch them, remain in your body for life – but usually in an inactive (or mostly inactive) state. However, in a small percentage of the population, these viruses may remain active, and the infection continues indefinitely, but as a low level, “smoldering” infection. It is believed that this may lead to chronic fatigue syndrome. The full reasons why certain people are more susceptible to certain viruses are not known at this stage, but it is very likely that part of the susceptibility arises from the many microbes already living in a person’s body (if an individual’s existing viral load is already high, and they catch an additional virulent virus, their immune system may no longer be able to cope properly, and CFS develops). Indeed, it has been frequently noted that people who were always a little bit frail in health (presumably due to the existing microbes in their system) are more likely to develop CFS on contracting additional viruses.

Genetic factors are also known to be influential in who develops CFS and who does not. Dr Jonathan Kerr has shown that 88 genes are abnormal in CFS patients, many of these genes often relating to the function of the immune system. This may also help explain why certain minority of people have greater susceptibility to viruses and, on contracting a CFS-causing virus, go on to develop CFS.

Presumably another factor in who develops CFS and who does not from a given virus is whether that virus is able invade the brain and central nervous system (CNS) of the individual, since the CNS is where the significant damage is done in CFS. It may well be that those who do not get CFS from a given virus have a more robust blood-brain barrier, and/or stronger cerebral immune system.

Around 0.2% to 2% of the population have chronic fatigue syndrome. Many people with severe cases of CFS are bed-bound. Others with less severe chronic fatigue syndrome are able to keep working, but struggle considerably. Even people just mildly afflicted with one or more these viruses will probably perform less than 100%, both mentally and physically.

The reason I believe chronic fatigue syndrome is the correct diagnosis in my case is because nearly all my above-mentioned symptoms are classic ME/CFS symptoms. Thus the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome generally fits. However, the unusual skin-wrinkling symptoms that people get from this virus are not normally found in CFS, as far as I am aware (though another strange skin symptom can occur in CFS patients: loss of fingerprints). Also, the extreme anxiety and anhedonia symptoms, which often are so bad they verge on mild psychosis, are quite unusual. This virus very suddenly causes these extreme mental state changes in certain susceptible people (perhaps in as much as 1 in 10 people who catch it).

It seems that this virus persists as a chronic infection, causing these CFS symptoms; and it seems that there is a very high inflammatory response to this virus. It is the inflammatory response, I believe, which mediates these extreme mental states, and perhaps this inflammation may contribute to the skin wrinkling as well.

Summary of diagnosis: this virus can cause chronic fatigue syndrome, and high levels of inflammation. This virus also seems to cause very mild CFS symptoms in nearly everyone that catches it. And as this virus is not eliminated from the body, once you catch it, you have this chronic smoldering infection for life. So I suspect this virus will have a significant impact on the mental and physical health of human populations as it begins to circulate more widely. It may take ten years before the majority of people have caught this respiratory virus, due to its relatively low contagiousness (see here for some epidemiological calculations for this virus). It is estimated that this epidemic will occur slowly, but surely. This virus will likely sneak in under the radar for many years, since the range of effects it can cause is wide: from heart attacks and periodontitis, to anhedonia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

SO WHAT VIRUS MIGHT BE CAUSING ALL MY SYMPTOMS?

We will now look at the characteristic symptoms of a range of viruses, and see if any match my own symptoms. We must use some educated detective work to help identify the culprit virus. This is necessary because blood tests for active viral infections in the body, though helpful, often do not provide definitive conclusions, so there is no foolproof way of getting answers here (though medical science is rapidly advancing in this area). Infectious disease specialists will thus tend to look at the full clinical picture of a patient and, using all information possible, home in on the truth. So we will try to adopt this method as far as we can.

Unusually, I happen to know exact time I was exposed to this virus; so the fact that its first symptoms appeared 12 hours after this exposure, shows this virus has a very fast incubation period. This rapid incubation period was noted in several people who were infected by this virus (and an incubation period within 8 hours was observed in one particular case). This is an extremely fast incubation period, and should be of scientific note just in itself.

Using this incubation period information, we can rule out many viruses that have much longer incubation periods. (Note that normally, knowing the incubation period is not that useful for microbe identification purposes; however, in this case, because the incubation period is so unusually fast, it does provide a neat way to rule out many microbes as candidates for the identity of the pathogen I caught.)

There are several other characteristics of this virus I caught, and using all these characterizing details, we will try to identify the virus I contracted. The other significant characteristics are:-

My virus can cause a herpangina-like sore throat, with papules but no blisters or ulcers (so it is a respiratory virus), it can cause stomach and bowel symptoms (so it is a gastrointestinal virus), systemic disease (it spreads to different organs in the body), significant mental changes (it is a neurological virus), partial hearing loss and tinnitus, periodontal disease, has immune-suppressive properties, is communicable from person to person via saliva or nasal secretions, and can cause chronic fatigue syndrome.

Given this information, we will see in (the next section) that the virus I caught is possibly a Coxsackie B virus, or some other species of enterovirus.

However, be aware that other viruses can cause approximately similar symptoms. So if you have slightly different symptoms to me, one of the other viruses detailed below may be the culprit in your case.

ENTEROVIRUS

An enterovirus, such as coxsackievirus B, is the most likely virus in my case, as this virus can cause most, if not all, of the symptoms I experienced, as we will now elucidate. Various characteristic symptom of my virus are given below, and we show how these match the characteristic symptoms of an enterovirus infection.

Enterovirus Matches the Symptoms of my Virus

An initial characteristic symptom of my virus is a sore throat looking like herpangina (an inflamed red throat at the back of the soft palette). In my case, the herpangina is without any pain, and without blisters or ulcers, but with a cluster of small papules (raised pimples not producing pus) in the pharynx, these papules being a slightly whiter shade of the red/pink color of the throat itself. The name lymphonodular pharyngitis is given to a herpangina-type sore throat where there are only papules, but no blisters or ulcers; so this may be a better description of my sore throat. So we need to restrict our search to viruses that can cause herpangina-like sore throats. (Lymphonodular pharyngitis is normally caused by coxsackievirus A10 only, but this virus does not produce chronic infections).

Herpangina sore throats are usually only caused by certain viruses of the Enterovirus genus, namely enterovirus 71, coxsackievirus A16, and coxsackievirus B species. More rarely, herpangina can be caused by echovirus (also from the Enterovirus genus), parechovirus 1, adenovirus, and herpes simplex virus; ref: 1.

Note that enterovirus herpangina normally has an incubation period of anything from 2 to 10 days, whereas this virus that I caught has a rapid incubation period of less than 24 hours, and I have seen my virus incubate in precisely 8 hours of contraction in one individual, which is a little faster than the typical enterovirus (although some enteroviruses, like rhinoviruses, and enterovirus 70, can incubate in 12 hours). Thus I speculate that the virus I caught might be a new strain of enterovirus, or a newly emerging enterovirus, which has a more rapid incubation period than usual.

My virus is mildly contagious, and is transmitted from person-to-person via normal household or social contact.

The enteroviruses are all easily passed from person-to-person via normal household contact, as they are spread by saliva and nasal secretions.

Out of these various enteroviruses, a virus in the Coxsackie B group fits my symptoms particularly well, as it often causes upper respiratory tract infection, gastrointestinal symptoms, significant neurological disease, persistent long-term infection, heart conditions, and systemic spread throughout the body. There are six species of virus within this coxsackievirus B group; these are called coxsackievirus B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 and B6.

In terms of the chronic fatigue syndrome I developed, CFS is generally associated with long-term infections of common viruses such as Coxsackie B virus, human herpes 6 virus or parvovirus B19.

In terms of the immune system suppression symptoms I have experienced: one species of enterovirus, namely Coxsackie B4 virus, has been shown to attack the natural killer cells of the immune system. This could explain the observed immunodeficiency, in that this coxsackievirus disabling of natural killer cells can allow secondary opportunistic infections to arise more easily in an individual. This also links in with the established fact that problems with natural killer cells are often observed in chronic fatigue syndrome patients.

How does enterovirus fit in with my virus’s symptom of muscle weakness mainly in the pelvic girdle (that is, in the lower proximal muscles)? Well, proximal muscle weakness is the characteristic of the diseases of dermatomyositis and polymyositis, and these two chronic inflammatory myopathy diseases have been linked to group B coxsackieviruses (as well as parvovirus B19 infections, HIV and HTLV-I). Polymyositis generally affects the thighs and hips to begin with, but then progresses to all the proximal muscles (proximal muscles = the muscles in the central part of the body, from thighs to shoulders). So it is conceivable that the weakness in my lower proximal muscles might be explained by the action of an enterovirus.

Interestingly, lower proximal muscle weakness (hind limb weakness) was found in mice with polymyositis caused by the myopathic Tucson strain of coxsackievirus B1 (refs: 1, 2). Could this muscle-attacking stain of the coxsackievirus B1 (CVB1T) be the virus I caught? This article on polymyositis/dermatomyositis explains that these diseases are caused by CD8 T cells attacking the muscle tissue; in other words, these are autoimmune conditions, caused by viruses. Dermatomyositis is characterized by a heliotrope rash, a symptom myself and several other people with this virus display on the upper chest; along with my muscle weakness, my heliotrope rash therefore tends to support the idea that the virus described on this website is causing something akin to a mild, benign version dermatomyositis.

Quite a few elderly people (aged 70+) that caught my virus soon (within year or so) experienced partial hearing loss, increased tinnitus, and sometimes even and mild loss of balance or dizzy spells. This little cluster of symptoms is actually a well-known syndrome called Meniere’s disease. Clinical investigation has shown that coxsackie virus B5, influenza B virus and varicella zoster virus are common causes of these type of ear symptoms. I myself noticed a loss in hearing acuity, after catching this virus. Greater age seems to predispose an individual to greater aural damage from this virus.

What about my developing chronic fatigue syndrome from my virus? Well enteroviruses (along with certain species of herpesviruses) are increasing implicated as a major cause of chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition which usually results from a persistent viral infection that is not cleared from the body by the immune system. There is substantial evidence for a persistent enterovirus infection causing CFS, particularly coxsackie B viruses (coxsackie viruses B1 and B4 are often the Enterovirus species involved in chronic fatigue syndrome). Since my symptoms are typical of chronic fatigue syndrome, the finger points to a Coxsackie B virus.

What about the people who manifested myocarditis, pericarditis and sudden heart attacks after catching my virus. Well Coxsackie B virus is a very common cause of all these.

Dr John Chia (a highly regarded infectious disease specialist and expert in enterovirus and chronic fatigue syndrome) has very generously read my symptoms listed on this web site, and said my symptoms are consistent with a chronic enterovirus infection, and said that the other viruses listed below (like Epstein-Barr virus and HHV-6) do not really fit my symptoms.

However these other viruses listed below can produce approximately similar symptoms, and are a useful reference for other people coming to this site who may have caught a different virus to mine.

Here is a list of enterovirus symptoms. Here is a list of enterovirus disease associations.

In the next sections, we look at how to test for enterovirus infection, and what enterovirus treatments are available.

The Complexities of Enterovirus Testing

(You may want to skip this “complexities” section, and scroll straight down to the Enterovirus Testing section that follows).

There are a number of difficulties in testing for the presence of enteroviruses in the body. This is because in chronic, low-level enterovirus infections, viral particles are usually not found in the blood or tissues. Up until recently, there was no explanation for this. When the standard “CFT” blood tests for enterovirus (the Complement Fixation Test) were given to patients with chronic enterovirus infections, often no evidence for the virus would be found in the blood. Yet an infection was ongoing, as RNA (genetic material) from the enterovirus would be found in the infected body tissues, as would proteins from this virus. This mystery may have finally cleared up, as a result of incredible new research by Dr Nora Chapman, Dr Steven Tracy, et al, which explains what is going on. This research shows that in chronic, low-level enterovirus infections, genetic changes occur to the virus when a very small part of its genome gets deleted, and consequently a new form of the virus then emerges, named the noncytopathic enterovirus. This noncytopathic form of the virus lives within human cells, rarely breaking out of these cells into the blood and tissues. (This special noncytopathic enterovirus is also called: the noncytolytic enterovirus or the terminally-deleted enterovirus.)

The reason noncytopathic enteroviruses do not break out of cells relates to the fact that they only partially replicate: they duplicate their RNA within cells, but do not create capsids (the outer shell of the virus) in which to house this RNA. Therefore no new viral particles are made (that, in normal circumstances, burst out of the cell and wander off to infect more cells). Instead, human cells infected with this noncytopathic virus suffer a build up of viral RNA within them, and certain genes of this viral RNA are likely still expressing themselves, and thus working to control or alter the functioning of the cell.

This discovery of a form of enterovirus that lives mainly inside human cells and rarely breaks out explains why, in a persistent, low-level infections of patients, enteroviruses are rarely found in the blood. This is very important for anyone wanting to get tested for a long-term enterovirus infection, as we now explain:

Taking a enterovirus CFT test (Complement Fixation Test) to see if a long-term enterovirus infection is causing your chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms is not the way to go. The enterovirus CFT test is pretty worthless in the case of long-term infections: if you get a positive or negative result, this bears no relation to whether you have long-term enterovirus or not. The enterovirus CFT test is only good for testing acute enterovirus infections, not chronic; it cannot detect chronic low-level enterovirus infections that stay inside cells.

Similarly, studies have found IgG antibodies to coxsackievirus infections in around 55% of the general population (ref: 1), and chronic fatigue syndrome patients as a group do not show a significantly higher incidence of coxsackievirus IgG antibodies in their blood than do the general population (even though you might expect them too, since enterovirus is strongly associated with chronic fatigue syndrome). The absence of antibodies in long term, low-level enterovirus infections may be explained by the fact that noncytopathic enteroviruses rarely break out of human cells, so there is very little antibody response instigated in the body. However, with a very sensitive antibody test, it is possible to detect long term, low-level enterovirus infections, as follows.

Enterovirus Testing

Dr Chia has found that one pathology lab – ARUP Lab – has antibody detection which is more sensitive and specific than most (the micro-neutralization test), and this test is able to detect the often very small amounts of enterovirus antibodies that are present in CFS patients. You need to get tested for both coxsackievirus B1-B6 antibodies, and echovirus antibodies. The ARUP Lab micro-neutralization tests will determine which specific Coxsackie B viruses you have (it tests for all 6 Coxsackie B viruses), and which specific echoviruses you have (out of the 5 echoviruses tested).

A more sensitive, but unfortunately less specific, way of detecting long-term enterovirus infections that may be underlying your chronic fatigue syndrome is the immunohistochemistry test, which uses a tissue sample collected from a stomach biopsy, and tests this sample for the presence of enteroviral protein. Dr John Chia has pioneered this approach and, for the first time, he is consistently able to detect enterovirus in the stomach tissues of the subset of CFS patients whose condition was associated with enterovirus. This immunohistochemistry test can detect all types of enterovirus, and it is the most sensitive test of all, but it does not determine the specific types of enteroviruses you have, whereas the ARUP micro-neutralization does.

So in the first instance, it is the ARUP Lab micro-neutralization tests that you probably want to order.

More details on these two tests (micro-neutralization and immunohistochemistry) can be found on the Enterovirus Foundation web site.

Enterovirus Treatments

As explained, there is a good chance that the virus described on this site is an enterovirus, most likely coxsackievirus B. Here we list some pharmaceuticals that have efficacy against coxsackievirus B. However, note that coxsackievirus B is a very hard virus to treat, and antiviral treatments usually bring relatively small improvements.

The drugs ribavirin, arbidol and amiloride (diuretic drug) have efficacy against coxsackievirus B.

Dr John Chia has employed intravenous interferon therapy for CFS patients whose condition is linked to enterovirus, and has put their CFS into remission. Unfortunately, the patients relapsed within six months, so interferon therapy is not a permanent. Once in remission, it is often heavy prolonged exercise for many days that precipitates the return of the CFS. So if your are in remission, careful avoidance of such prolonged exercise situations, and strategically taking rest periods, may help keep you CFS-free.

Dr Chia has also had some success using an extract of Sophora root named oxymatrine for patients with enterovirus-associated CFS, many of whom have responded well after several months of taking oxymatrine tablets. Around 25% of people with enterovirus-associated CFS find oxymatrine works well for them. Relapses can occur on discontinuation of oxymatrine. The dose is one oxymatrine 300 mg tablet, taken 1 to 3 times a day (start with 300 mg daily, and over the weeks, slowly increase to 3 x 300 mg tablets daily). Dr Chia has developed a pharmaceutical grade oxymatrine product called Equilibrant.

I tried oxymatrine for this virus, but in my case, it did not help. However it is worth trying oxymatrine for a few months to test it.

Natural Treatments for Enterovirus

There is a good chance that the virus described on this site is an enterovirus, most likely coxsackievirus B. Here we list some herbal medications that have efficacy against coxsackievirus B.

Terminalia Chebula (haritaki, He Zi), Emblica officinalis (Phyllanthus emblica, amla), Trichosanthes Root (Tian Hua Fen), Rhodiola rosea (golden root), curcumin, emodin (from Japanese knotweed), Astragalus membranaceus, Spatholobus suberectus Dunn (Ji Xue Teng), ursolic acid (found in Ocimum basilicum), ursolic acid (Chai Hu), Glycine max (black soybean extract, Dan Dou Chi), DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), sodium selenite (a form of selenium), EGCG (extract from green tea), EGCG (horny goat weed), baicalein (found in Scutellaria baicalensis), nicotinamide (niacinamide), acemannan (aloe polymannose from aloe vera leaves), Aegle marmelos Corr (bael fruit powder, bilva powder), Azadirachta indica (neem), hinokitiol (found in hiba oil), Sophora flavescens root (Ku Shen), Isatis tinctoria (dyer’s woad, Da Qing Ye, Ban Lan Gen). PubMed references here.

Newly Emerging Enteroviruses

Finally, let us look at some newly emerging enteroviruses, as these may be good candidates for the identity of the virus I caught.

The Centers for Disease Control note that there may be a new more virulent strain of Coxsackie B1 virus in circulation (ref: 1, 2, 3). This is because there has been an increased level of coxsackievirus B1 infections in the United States, and these Coxsackie B1 infections have sometimes caused severe neonatal disease, as well as five baby deaths in 2007. This killer coxsackievirus B1 seems to cause fatalities by inflammation of the heart, which then precipitates heart attacks (heart attacks are often caused by infections). Normally Coxsackie B infection is not fatal, so this mutated Coxsackie B1 virus is clearly something nasty. Could this killer Coxsackie B1 virus be the cause of my symptoms?

Another possible candidate for my virus is the virulent new FY-19 strain of coxsackievirus B3 identified in China in 2008. This CVB3 seems to exhibit an unusually rapid incubation period – as has been consistently observed in the virus described on this website.

Several other new enteroviruses have also been discovered in the last decade: enterovirus 75 was found in Spain and circulating in Europe, and is associated with viral (aseptic) meningitis; enterovirus 93 and enterovirus 94, were found in the Congo, and are associated with acute flaccid paralysis; enterovirus 104 was found in Switzerland, and is associated with respiratory tract infections and otitis media (ear infection) and possibly brain and central nervous system infection; enterovirus 109 was identified from an outbreak of acute pediatric respiratory illness in Nicaragua, but the symptoms of EV-109 are not fully known. Thirteen other enteroviruses (EV79–88, EV97, and EV100–101) were also identified this last decade using molecular identification methods.

In the next sections, we look a other viruses, bacteria and parasites that can cause symptoms roughly like those I experienced. But to re-iterate, these viruses below are not good candidates for my virus’s identity. As stated, my virus is most likey an enterovirus. However, all the microbes in the next sections have been associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

HUMAN HERPES SIX VIRAL INFECTION

Human herpes 6 virus (HHV-6), especially the more severe A-variant, called HHV-6A, can induce immunodeficiency, neurological symptoms and chronic fatigue syndrome. HHV-6A inhibits immune function by blocking the growth of dendritic cells and interleukin-12 production. There has been some speculation that HHV-6A is partly responsible for the immune deficiency found in HIV/AIDS. Dr. Robert Gallo, the co-discoverer of the HIV virus, believes that, as well as HIV, HHV-6A also plays a role in the development of AIDS.

So could I have caught a virulent strain of HHV-6? Again, unlikely in my case, since the incubation period for HHV-6B is 5 to 15 days, whereas my chronic sore throat virus incubates in less than 24 hours. (The incubation period for HHV-6A is not really known, but it may be similar to that of HHV-6B.)

HHV-6 Testing

Over 90 percent of the US population have HHV-6B in their bodies (but mostly in a latent, inactive state). The more severe HHV-6A variant is found in probably less than 3 percent of the US population. An active HHV-6 infection can cause chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms. Testing for an active HHV-6 infection is straightforward, and can be done by a blood antibody test. However, most lab tests for HHV-6 cannot distinguish between the nasty A-variant and the more benign B-variant of the HHV-6 virus. One test that can distinguish HHV-6A from HHV-6B is the nested PCR, and is available here: HHV-6A testing. More info on HHV-6A testing can be found here: 1, 2, 3.

HHV-6 Treatments

For chronic fatigue syndrome due to HHV-6, treatment success has recently been achieved using the antiviral drug Valganciclovir. The drug kutapressin (Nexavir) has also been helpful for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome caused by the human herpes six virus. The anti-malaria drug artesunate has significant efficacy against HHV-6.

Natural Treatments for HHV-6

The herb artemisinin may have some efficacy against HHV-6, but because artemisinin has poor bioavailability, you will get better results from taking the drug derivative of artemisinin: artesunate, as mentioned in the paragraph above.

PARVOVIRUS B19

Parvovirus B19 (recently renamed erythrovirus B19) is known to cause a persistent bodily infection as well as connective tissue disease. It is a frequent cause of chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms. Parvovirus B19 can also cause carpal tunnel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis, Raynaud’s disease and anemia. In my case, I think parvovirus may be ruled out on the basis that it has an incubation period of 4 to 14 days, which is too slow: the virus I have generally shows its symptoms well within 24 hours of first contracting it.

Parvovirus B19 Testing

By adulthood, 50% of the US population have parvovirus B19 in their system. Testing to see if you have an active Parvovirus B19 infection is very straightforward, and can be done with a blood test.

Parvovirus B19 Treatments

For chronic fatigue syndrome caused by parvovirus B19, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment has worked in some cases.

EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), also called HHV-4, is a member of the herpes family. Most people know Epstein-Barr as the virus that causes mononucleosis. However, EBV has long been suspected in playing a causal role in chronic fatigue syndrome. This herpes virus can create an immunocompromised state in an individual.

Epstein-Barr virus (and cytomegalovirus also) is implicated in the oral health condition periodontitis, in which the gums are inflamed and receding (I fast developed periodontitis from the virus I caught). Periodontitis gum disease is in part due to proliferating oral bacteria; I assume that my oral bacteria are multiplying as a result of a slight immunodeficiency. Periodontitis is also associated with connective tissue dissolving enzymes (which we address later). Incidentally, gingivitis, which is where the gums are inflamed, but not receding, is associated with herpes simplex and varicella-zoster viruses. However, I have the more severe dental condition of periodontitis, not gingivitis.

Epstein-Barr can produce significant neurological symptoms. Thus this virus does fit many of my symptoms. So could I have a virulent strain of Epstein-Barr virus? One difficulty with this hypothesis is that the incubation period of EBV is 4 to 6 weeks, whereas my chronic sore throat virus incubates in less than 24 hours, so it does not fit the observations, unless there is some new Epstein-Barr serotype in circulation that has this very rapid incubation period of less than 24 hours.

In most cases, active Epstein-Barr virus infections that cause chronic fatigue symptoms do not persist for more than around 4 months, and chronic EBV infection is rare. Research mostly indicates that Epstein-Barr virus is not connected to chronic fatigue syndrome, though subclinical reactivation of latent EBV may contribute to CFS symptoms.

Epstein-Barr Testing

Around 95% of the world population have the Epstein-Barr virus in their bodies (in a mostly latent state), but most people do not suffer any extreme symptoms because of this. However, if you have an active long-term Epstein-Barr virus infection, this may cause chronic fatigue symptoms. Testing to see if you have an active Epstein-Barr virus infection is very straightforward, and can be done with a blood test that detects EBV antibodies.

Epstein-Barr Treatments

In terms of treatments for chronic fatigue caused by Epstein-Barr, the antiviral drugs valacyclovir (Valtrex) and acyclovir (Zovirax) can be effective for treating chronic fatigue caused by Epstein-Barr virus. These drugs have a very good safety profile.

The drug kutapressin (Nexavir) has been helpful for patients with chronic fatigue caused by Epstein-Barr virus. Dr Kenny de Meirleir at Red Labs (located in Belgium and the USA) uses kutapressin. Dr Derek Enlander (located in New York) also uses kutapressin. Dr Paul Cheney uses artesunate in his treatment protocol for Epstein-Barr virus (and for HHV-6 virus).

Natural Treatments for Epstein-Barr

An alkalizing diet (or raw food diet) can be effective against chronic EBV, and for chronic fatigue syndrome in general. Search Google for more info on alkalizing/raw food diets. I am guessing that alkalizing works possibly because EBV requires acidic tissue conditions to infect certain cells, and therefore alkalizing may go a long way to halting EBV infection. Alkalizing diets also have an anti-inflammatory action, which may also contribute to their healing efficacy.

The following supplements have a useful anti-EBV effect: turmeric, passionflower and sesame seed oil – these inhibit the Epstein-Barr virus (ref: 1). Other anti-EBV supplements include: lysine, ginger, licorice, curcumin, EGCG (from green tea), red marine algae, cayaponia tayuya root, pau d’arco herb, beetroot extract (Beta vulgaris), olive leaf extract, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), citrus flavonoids, andrographis paniculata.

OTHER CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME VIRUSES

Human Parainfluenza Virus 5 (PIV-5) has been implicated as a causal factor in chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and multiple sclerosis. Parainfluenza virus 5 is also called simian virus 5. Could my array of symptoms result from a parainfluenza virus 5 infection? The incubation period for parainfluenza virus 5 is not known, however, parainfluenza viruses 1 to 4, which are common cold viruses from the same paramyxovirus family, generally have an incubation period in the range of 1 to 7 days. Assuming that parainfluenza virus 5 has a similar incubation period, it could almost (but not quite) fit with the observed less than 24 hour incubation period of my virus.

Many viruses in the paramyxovirus family can be controlled with neuraminidase inhibitor drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). Natural neuraminidase inhibitors include: kelp, astragalus, resveratrol, skullcap and EGCG extract of green tea (EGCG is a strong neuraminidase inhibitor). So it may be worth trying out neuraminidase inhibitors to see if they have any effect on a suspected parainfluenza virus 5 infection.

Neurovirulent Influenza A virus attacks brain regions such as the substantia nigra (a brain area linked to motivation), the habenular, thalamus, hypothalamus and the brainstem. There are 10 human serotypes of influenza A, including: avian influenza (bird flu) H5N1, which may cause a human pandemic in the future; and swine influenza H1N1, which has infected the human population already. Influenza has an incubation period in the range of 1 to 7 days, but is typically 2 to 3 days. Influenza A infection can be treated with the neuraminidase inhibitors listed above; the herb asafoetida has good efficacy against influenza A virus.

Varicella zoster virus (the virus which causes chickenpox) may be linked to chronic fatigue syndrome: this paper hypothesizes that at least some cases of chronic fatigue syndrome are caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (or other herpes viruses) in the peripheral nerve ganglia.

Then there is Borna disease virus (BDV) to consider. The Borna disease virus can cause depression and anhedonia (though the thorough work of Dr Ian Lipkin found no link between bornavirus and chronic fatigue syndrome). About 1 in 3 people in the general population are found to have antibodies to bornavirus. Bornavirus is generally thought to be a zoonotic virus (one contracted from animals) that does not pass from person-to-person, or if it does, its transmission is only very minimal. By contrast, the virus I caught transmits quite easily from human-to-human.

Cytomegalovirus is another virus that can create chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) can pass from person-to-person via saliva (as well as via urine, semen, cervical secretions, blood, and breast milk). However, cytomegalovirus has a fairly long incubation time, with a 3 week incubation being the shortest it can achieve. Since my virus has an incubation time of less than 24 hours, we can safely rule out the possibility that my virus is the cytomegalovirus.

Up to 20% of US children are infected with cytomegalovirus before they reach puberty, and more than 50% of the US adult population have cytomegalovirus in their bodies. Note that cytomegalovirus is often an opportunistic virus: if you have cytomegalovirus lurking your system already, although the immune system keeps it in check normally, the immune-suppressing actions of other viruses or bacteria may allow any latent cytomegalovirus in your body to re-activate and start causing trouble. Drug treatments for cytomegalovirus include: aspirin, artesunate, ganciclovir and foscarnet. Natural treatments for cytomegalovirus include: artemisinin, chlorella, clove, Terminalia chebula, baicalein, genistein, ginger, hypericin, monolaurin, lactoferrin.

Herpes simplex virus I and II may be contributory factors in CFS (it has been noted that more CFS patients have antibodies to both HSV-1 and HSV-2 than do controls). Drug treatments for herpes simplex virus include: valacyclovir, acyclovir, heparin. Natural treatments for herpes simplex virus include: creatine, lysine, lithium, clove (eugenol extract), curcumin, Lobelia chinensis, propolis, lactoferrin, Centella asiatica (gotu kola), licorice.

The viruses HHV-7, hepatitis C, and HTLV I & II have also been singled out as casual or contributory agents in CFS.

Ross River virus, a mosquito-borne virus found in parts of Australia and other countries, has been associated with chronic fatigue syndrome (though most infections of Ross River virus in humans do not produce clinical symptoms and go unnoticed).

XMRV, a gamma retrovirus, was found in CFS patients by Dr Judy Mikovits at the Whittemore-Peterson Institute (WPI). However, other researchers have so far been unable to replicate these findings.

JHK virus, a retrovirus discovered by Dr Sidney Grossberg was found in CFS patients. Dr Elaine Defreitas found a HTLV-II-like virus in CFS patients.

BACTERIAL CAUSES OF CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

Bacteria such as Chlamydia pneumoniae and Coxiella burnetii (which causes Q fever) are responsible for some cases of chronic fatigue syndrome. These bacteria can be treated with antibiotics. The incubation period of Chlamydia pneumoniae is around 3 to 4 weeks; the incubation period of Coxiella burnetii 2 to 3 weeks; these incubation periods are too slow to be my pathogen, which has a much faster incubation period of less than 24 hours.

Brucella bacteria may also cause chronic fatigue syndrome-like symptoms. This bacterium can be treated with antibiotics. Brucella’s incubation period is 1 to 3 weeks.

Mycoplasma species bacteria such as Mycoplasma fermentans, Mycoplasma hominis and Mycoplasma penetrans are sometimes found at higher levels in CFS patients than in healthy people, and it has been speculated that Mycoplasma species may contribute to CFS symptoms.

Toxoplasma gondii (a protozoan parasite found in cat feces and undercooked meat) has been known to cause pronged fatigue.

OTHER CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME CAUSAL, CONTRIBUTORY OR PREDISPOSING FACTORS

Why do some people, when they catch the virus described on this website (or some other CFS-associated virus), develop chronic fatigue syndrome, while others do not (even though the other may get a very mild version of CFS)? This discrepancy may be explained by predisposing factors, which increase the risk of developing CFS. Some predisposing factors for acquiring CFS are as follows.

Exposure to organophosphate pesticides has been implicated as a causal, contributory or predisposing factor to CFS. Exposure to significant quantities of mold toxins is a causal, contributory or predisposing factor for precipitating CFS (certain species of mold contain potent neurotoxins). Exposure to ciguatoxin can result in chronic fatigue syndrome. Radiation exposure is a cause of CFS-like symptoms (post-radiation syndrome). Chronic fatigue syndrome can sometimes ensue after an episode of meningitis. Chronic fatigue syndrome can very occasionally appear after having major surgery. Sometimes a major physical trauma — particularly a motor vehicle accident – can precipitate CFS. Food poisoning very occasionally leads to CFS. Chronic fatigue syndrome has sometimes been precipitated by hepatitis B virus vaccination.

Already having the conditions of: irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, and/or recurrent urinary tract infection may act as predisposing factors to acquiring CFS. It may well be that these conditions are caused by microbes, thus already putting strain on the immune system; then, when a person contracts a further microbial agent such as the virus described on this website, the immune system can no longer cope (or develops some pathologies itself), and as a result, chronic fatigue syndrome ensues.

Hidden infections in the body, such as dental infections in root canals, or bone infections, may cause chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS-like symptoms (but this is very rare). Bacteria in such local hidden infections can produce toxins that cause system wide problems (see focal infection theory).

Leaky gut syndrome (intestinal permeability) may also be a contributory or predisposing factor to CFS. A leaky gut may allow lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a molecule originating from Gram-negative bacteria the gut, to escape from the gut into the blood stream, where this LPS will cause a potent inflammatory response (the immune system is designed to mount a very high inflammatory response on encountering LPS, as it assumes this means there are Gram-negative bacteria about).

Other co-morbid conditions often seen to accompany (or arise after acquiring) chronic fatigue syndrome include: multiple chemical sensitivity (increased allergies), temporomandibular joint disorder (problems with the jaw joint or jaw muscles), myofascial pain syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, chronic headaches / migraines, endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain syndrome (prostatitis), Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, prolapsed mitral valve, Raynaud’s disease, and Sjögren’s syndrome (sicca syndrome).

AN EMERGING NEW RESPIRATORY VIRUS?

In the last decade or so, many new human respiratory viruses have been discovered. These include: enterovirus 75, enterovirus 93, enterovirus 94, enterovirus 109, human metapneumovirus virus (hMPV), mimivirus (in the Mimivirus genus), parvovirus 4 and 5, human bocavirus (tentatively placed in the Parvovirus genus), WU virus and KI virus (both polyomaviruses), Torque teno virus (TT virus), melaka virus (in the Reovirus genus), mapuera virus and menangle virus, New Haven or NL63 coronavirus, coronavirus HKU1. New viruses that infect humans have been found across six genera in the Picornavirus family: Ljungan virus (in the Parechovirus genus), Saffold virus (in the Cardiovirus genus), Aichi virus (in the Kobuvirus genus), cosavirus A to D (in the proposed new Cosavirus genus), klassevirus 1 (in the proposed new Klassevirus genus) and Seneca Valley virus (in the Senecavirus genus). The clinical signs, symptoms and pathogenesis for most of these are not fully known at this stage. Could my virus be an emerging infectious disease within this list, or an as yet unknown and unnamed emerging viral pathogen?

Some Information on these newly discovered viruses:
Viruses from the Cardiovirus genus cause serious disease, mainly in rodents, including diabetes, myocarditis, encephalomyelitis, and multiple sclerosis-like disseminated encephalomyelitis. Saffold virus is a particular Cardiovirus that can infect humans. Currently 9 Saffold virus types have been discovered (SAFV-1 to 9). Studies on SAFV-3 show that it is a very common virus, found in more than 90% of older children and adults.

Melaka virus symptoms are very similar to that of flu infections: fever, cough and sore throat. Torque teno virus is ubiquitous: found in more than 90% of adults worldwide, but human pathogenicity has not yet been established. Human metapneumovirus is ubiquitous: there is almost 100% seropositivity for hMPV antibodies in adults.

The virus described on this website has low prevalence in the general population (see here for how this is known). Thus newly discovered viruses like SAFV-3, TT virus and hMPV, which are very prevalent, cannot possibly be candidates for virus described on this website.

DISEASES WITH SIMILAR SYMPTOMS: DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES

The set of symptoms that this virus precipitated in me primarily resemble chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). There is considerable symptom overlap between CFS and these following diseases: lupus erythematosus, Lyme disease, Morgellons disease, and the new Chinese HIV-like disease. Here we attempt to provide some differential diagnoses:

Lupus erythematosus can manifest very similar mental and physical symptoms to those precipitated by my virus. However, lupus is often characterized by a red butterfly rash on the face, which my virus has not precipitated in anyone; furthermore, lupus is not contagious, whereas my virus (and its symptoms) transmits from person-to-person (I know of at least 30 people that have caught my virus, and are displaying symptoms to some degree). Thus we can rule out lupus on this basis.

Lyme disease can also manifest very similar mental and physical symptoms to those precipitated by my virus. However, Lyme is also not contagious; and I do not live anywhere near a Lyme area (nor do the other 30 people with this virus). Thus we can rule out Lyme disease.

Morgellons disease appears to be an emerging condition, possibly contagious, and as yet of unknown cause. Many of its symptoms closely parallel those precipitated by my virus. However, in most cases, Morgellons is characterized by the appearance of tiny fibers growing out of the skin. Nobody out of the 30 people that have caught my virus are yet displaying this fiber symptom.

Chinese HIV-like disease appears to be a contagious emerging infection (though it is in fact unrelated to HIV). Its mental symptoms are similar to those precipitated by the virus described on this website. However, several physical symptoms produced by the Chinese HIV-like pathogen are not found with my virus. These are: the severe chronic chest pain that lasts for months or years that is produced by the Chinese HIV-like pathogen; the rash and skin peeling on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet (and sometimes the whole legs); the skin stiffness (skin lose its elasticity, such that indentations in the skin made by finger pressure take several seconds to disappear); the bleeding gums; the cracking or popping sounds made when joints are moved (crepitus); the constantly twitching muscles. None of these Chinese HIV-like disease symptoms are generally present in people that have the virus described on this website.

Roughly similar symptoms to the chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms precipiated by the virus described on this website can also be found in chronic hepatitis C virus infection, celiac disease, hypothyroidism and anemia, and these conditions should first be tested for and ruled out before you consider a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. Hidden infections in the body, such as dental infections in root canals, or bone infections, may, in rare cases, cause chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.

CLINICAL SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Below is a categorial summary of the clinical manifestations of the virus described on this website. These were obtained through my observations on myself, and around 30 other people who caught this same chronic sore throat virus. This set of 30 people observed includes all ages, both sexes, and several nationalities.

✔ General Symptoms Overview

This virus is a respiratory (upper respiratory more than lower), gastrointestinal and neurological virus, which spreads systemically throughout the body, and persists chronically, causing weak legs, fine-textured skin wrinkles across the body, and all the characteristic symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. As this virus starts to affect the central nervous system, powerful and permanent mental state alterations can appear, such as anhedonia, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, memory and word-recall problems. This virus also seems to weaken the immune system, especially in the first year or two of infection, resulting in an increase of other opportunistic infections (bacterial, fungal and viral) .

✔ Mode of Transmission

Mode of transmission = the way the virus first enters the body.

This virus is transmitted person-to-person, probably via saliva and/or nasal secretions. The virus will transmit to most members of a household or office within a year or two, if one member is infected, particularly if that person suffers a persistent sore throat and/or persistent nasal mucus. The fact that transmission is not that fast (compared to a cold for example) suggests that not that many viral particles are shed by an infected individual, and/or that these shed viral particles do not survive long in the home environment. It has been noted that virus transmission usually occurs via sharing food or drinks on the same table, or by intimate contact such as kissing. There may also be fecal-oral transmission, given that this virus replicates in the intestines, but I suspect its main route of human-to-human transmission of this virus is through respiratory secretions.

✔ Incubation Period

Incubation period = the time between catching a pathogen and the arrival of its first symptoms.

(Note: the incubation period is slightly different to the latency period, the latter being defined as the time between catching a pathogen and the point when the infected person becomes infectious to others – which is the point that the contagious period begins).

The incubation period of this virus can be VERY fast: it can be as fast as 8 hours, but is typically around 12 hours, and generally less than 24 hours. This has been reliably observed: for several infected people, I knew the exact time of exposure to the virus, and the precise time the first symptoms then appeared. I have observed many cases where I know for sure that exposure to this virus happened sometime during a short evening social event (such as an evening dinner), and the subsequent onset of symptoms (vomiting, or sore throat) arrived either in middle of the night, or early next day. All the people that I observed catching this virus in this way later manifested many of the typical long-term sequelae that this virus causes, in the months and years that followed this first infection. Note that irrespective of whether this infection starts with a sore throat, or with a gastrointestinal upset and vomiting, in both cases the incubation period is the same: as fast as 8 hours, but typically around 12 hours, and generally less than 24 hours.

This unusually rapid incubation period is a good clue to the identity of this virus.

Note: such a rapid incubation period is found in only a few viruses: influenza B viruses have an incubation period of around 24 hours; enterovirus 70 can have an incubation period as fast as 12 hours; rhinoviruses can have an incubation period as fast as 12 hours; norovirus can have an incubation period as fast as 10 hours. So time-wise these viruses could be candidates for the virus described on this website (the virus I caught); but these viruses are not generally known to form persistent long-term infections, as my virus clearly does.

Details of some viral incubation periods are shown here.

✔ Prodrome

Prodrome = the nature of initial symptoms at the beginning of the infection.

This viral infection usually starts in one of four ways:-

(1) A sore throat located at the back of the soft palette, on the palatoglossal arch (more towards where this arch meets the tongue on both sides, rather than at the uvula apex of this arch). The infection also develops at the very back of the throat (pharynx), and to a lesser degree in the upper esophagus. The red inflammation (erythema) of this throat infection is clearly discernible on the palatoglossal arch and the pharynx. Inspection of the isthmus faucium area of the pharynx shows both red inflamed skin, and some papules (papules are small raised pimples which are solid rather than fluid-filled and do not produce pus). These papules are slightly elongated rather than round, around 2mm by 1mm in size, and are a slightly whiter shade of red/pink than the surrounding skin. This sore throat looks very similar to a herpangina sore throat, except that in my case, no vesicles (blisters) or ulcers appeared (vesicles and ulcers usually accompany herpangina), only papules. (Note: the name lymphonodular pharyngitis is given to a herpangina-type sore throat where there are only papules; so this may be a better description of the sore throat.) The throat is sore, but with no pain, and very little fever. This throat infection runs for many months before it begins to subside. However it never fully disappears, and usually remains as a chronic sore throat and/or with constant nasal mucus production (although the sore throat becomes a more subdued after a few years). There is an accompanying mild dry cough with little sputum.

(2) Alternatively, the infection can first begin as a gastric upset, with vomiting and diarrhea (in other words, it begins as a viral gastroenteritis or “stomach flu”). In the case of this stomach upset type of prodrome, there is a fever, which lasts for one or two days (unfortunately the fever temperature has not been measured; but it is not unduly high). Significant fatigue is experienced during the fever period. There are no signs of skin rash (at least in the people I observed). The only skin change apparent at this incubation stage is a slight red flushing, presumed due just to the patient’s temperature.

(3) Sometimes the infection starts with a cluster of lesions and scabs surrounding the facial lips, these lesions looking like large cold sores. In this case, there is also a significant swelling of the lymph nodes in the lower jaw and neck, these swollen lymph nodes easing off after a week or two, as the crusted lesions clear up (these lesions may just be a flare up of pre-existing herpes simplex, as a result of the immunocompromising actions of the chronic sore throat virus; or quite possibly, they may be the oral lesions of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), which is caused by enteroviruses).

(4) Occasionally, this infection can start with just with a viral headache (which can be very intense and can last for two or three days), but no other symptoms (at least initially) other than feeling very irritable, and generally feeling under the weather.

No other prodrome sequences have been noted. NOTE: when the infection begins as a sore throat, a (milder) gastric upset can appear months later. Similarly, when the infection begins as a gastric upset, sore throat can appear weeks later.

✔ Period of Communicability (Contagious Period)

Period of communicability = the time period during which an infected person is infectious to others.

The period of communicability is the time period that an infected person is able to transmit their virus to others. For example: in the case of the common cold virus (rhinovirus), this period is the first few days of infection, after which, the body is in recovery from the fever, and the cold virus can no longer be transmitted to others. However, in the case of this chronic sore throat virus, the period of communicability lasts at least a year or so. People with this virus who have a chronic sore throat or constant nasal secretions (which are common symptoms) are able to transmit this virus via the constant source of viral particles shed from the saliva in the mouth and/or from the persistent nasal mucus discharge. I know for sure that I was able to infect someone (via kissing) 15 months after first catching this virus.

The persistent nasal discharge is very characteristic: the constant stuffy nose contains thick, viscous, congested mucus build up. Blowing your nose with a tissue to clear this mucus build-up is necessary every hour or so, and requires a very strong, long blow of the nose to clear out the viscous thick mucus. Once begun, this thick nasal mucus persists indefinitely; it does it start to abate a little after a year or two, but never fully disappears. Exactly the same is true for the sore throat, which persists permanently, but often becoming more subdued in time. NOTE: some people can have the chronic runny nose without the chronic sore throat, and vice versa. Others have both, and other people have neither. Sometimes in infected person will experience a recurrent sore throat, where the throat will clear up for a day or two, but then quickly return. These constant nasopharyngeal symptoms are characteristic, and their persistence means the period of communicability of this virus lasts at least a year or two, perhaps even indefinitely. From my observation, some approximate statistics: about 70% of people with this virus display a chronic stuffy / runny nose, and about 30% get the chronic sore throat.

✔ Contagiousness

Contagiousness = how easily the virus passes to other people (also called transmission rate).

Even though this virus may have an indefinitely long period of communicability (as a result of its chronic respiratory infection), and even though its incubation period is extremely rapid, by contrast, this virus is not highly contagious. Its person-to-person transmission rate is in fact relatively low. This can be easily deduced from the observation that once one person in a household has caught this virus, it can take over a year before all members of the household have caught it. I have observed this on multiple occasion, in several households.

However, though this virus is only mildly contagious, its communicable period (contagious period) lasts for a long time, at least a year or so (and perhaps even indefinitely). This is why this virus does spread to a lot of people: although it is only weakly contagious, its period of communicability is lengthy, so that there are ample opportunities for it to eventually infect everyone around.

One way this virus can rapidly pass to a person outside the household is when meeting an acquaintance for say lunch or dinner, and having lots of animated conversation while eating on the same table. I have noticed that this tends to pass on the virus. This is almost certainly from oral ejections of tiny globules of spittle that naturally happens during laughing and loud talking. This spittle may land on the table on other person’s food or drink, and then get eaten. Intimate or deep kissing is another way this virus is quite easily transmitted, if the first infected person has the chronic nasopharyngeal infection.

✔ Mental State Changes

About 2 months after the initial prodrome, powerful mental state changes begin (depression, fatigue, apathy, loss of motivation, anhedonia, dysthymia, athymhormia, social withdrawal, a sense of sleepiness, mild dementia, some memory problems, loss of organizational capabilities).

In some people, uncharacteristic outbursts of aggression appear. The severity of the mental state changes varies considerably from person to person: some people are badly affected, others just minimally affected. What is clear is that the mental symptoms, while they do improve a little, linger permanently. Even in those people not particularly badly affected by this virus, episodes of depression, sometimes for days, sometimes protracted over months, seem to be common, even in those sturdy people that had never experienced depression before.

Occasionally, mental state changes can appear straight away on catching this virus, during the first few days of the infection. In this case, though, the mental state changes significantly abate a few days later.

✔ Pins and Needles

About 4 months after the initial prodrome, a “pins and needles” sensation (paresthesia) appears in some people. This tends to be more in the legs, but will often manifest throughout the whole body. Some people say these pins and needles sensations are located just under the skin; other people say that they are in their muscles.

✔ Receding Gums: Periodontal Disease

Also at 4 months, receding gums and a rapid sudden onset of periodontal disease arises in many people. Dental plaque formation and deposition significantly increases. There may even be new dental caries (tooth decay) suddenly appearing, even for people with excellent oral hygiene habits.

✔ Skin Wrinkling

About 12 to 18 months after the initial prodrome, the first signs of fine skin wrinkling are noticed. This closely spaced wrinkling has a texture reminiscent of crepe paper. These premature skin aging wrinkles start to appear at first on the top of the hands, but the whole body is soon involved. The wrinkled skin produced by this virus looks different in appearance to the look of normal skin aging. For one thing, the viral wrinkles are much finer than normal wrinkles, with this unusual crepe paper-like appearance. They are not localized on the body, but rather form a consistent uniform fine texture across the body. Also, as we know, normal skin aging happens quite slowly – in normal aging, significant changes in skin appearance are noticeable as the decades go by, not as a year goes by. By contrast, the aging skin process that arises from catching this virus manifests more rapidly, with significant changes noticeable within a year or two. The degree of wrinkling this virus causes varies from person to person. Older people (55+) have a greater, and a more rapid increase in body wrinkles, and exhibit slightly deeper wrinkle furrows. Younger people (30 to 55 years) have slightly more shallow furrows. In both cases, however, the wrinkles have this characteristic very fine texture, with crepe paper-like appearance that are distinct from normal aging wrinkles. People under about 30 or so will tend not to show any of these wrinkles, presumably because their younger skin is more robust in countering the skin-damaging effect of this virus.

✔ Weak Legs and Pelvic Girdle Laxity

Also at 12 to 18 months, the first signs of muscle weakness and looseness appear. The muscle weakness/looseness is primarily located in the the proximal muscles (the muscles in, or closest to, the core of the body). The pelvic girdle muscles (the lower proximal muscles) are most affected; the shoulder muscles are affected to a lesser degree,. Proximal muscle weakness in general is the characteristic of the diseases of dermatomyositis and polymyositis (these two chronic inflammatory myopathy diseases have been linked to coxsackievirus B / enterovirus, and parvovirus B19 infections). Interestingly, lower proximal muscle weakness (hind limb weakness) in particular was found in mice with polymyositis caused by the Tucson strain of coxsackievirus B1 (Refs: 1, 2).

✔ Heliotrope Rash and Newly Appearing Dysplastic Nevi Moles

After 2 or 3 years with this virus, further skin symptoms appear. The color of the skin on the upper chest area just under the neck becomes a little red/pink, and the skin texture in this area gets quite thick and oily (or waxy) in texture. I believe this upper chest redness is an example of a heliotrope rash. Additionally, new moles with a rough texture may appear on the skin; see this picture that I took of one mole that appeared. These type of moles are called dysplastic nevi.

FINDING A CANDIDATE VIRUS

Given the above observational data on this virus (made on around 30 people in my social circle with this virus), for those interested in considering possible candidates for the virus described on this website, based on the observed clinical signs and symptoms, you need to find a candidate virus that matches the relevant characteristics of this virus. Specifically, the candidate virus under consideration must have:

• A similar incubation period to the virus described on this website, which has an incubation period of around 8 to 24 hours.

• A similar level of contagiousness. This virus is only mildly contagious: it typically takes around a year or so to spread to other members of a household, once one household member is initially infected. Any virus more contagious than this is immediately ruled out. This requirement will rule out influenza viruses, for example, which are pretty contagious and tend to spread within days to other household members.

• A long contagious period. The contagious period is the time period during which and infected person is infectious to others. The contagious period for this virus is around a year or so, during which time an infectee can infect others. (Infectees may be able to infect other for even longer periods than a year, perhaps indefinitely, but it appears that the degree of contagiousness is lower after a year, due to the chronic sore throat and/or chronic nasal/sinus infections reducing in intensity after around a year). This requirement will rule out any virus that has a short contagious period. As an example of a short contagious period: the rhinovirus contagious period typically begins two to three days before symptoms appear, and then lasts for about two weeks more.

• The candidate virus must be one that will eventually infect 100% of the household just by normal household contact. Though the level of contagiousness of the virus described on this site is only mild, this virus WILL slowly but surely pass to all members of a household after a year or so, and cause noticeable symptoms in everyone. This inexorable infectiveness is due to its extremely long contagious period, and also due to the fact that at present, it is believed this virus is not currently prevalent in the human population (see note below). Thus by this requirement, viruses like bornavirus, that are statistically only found in 30% of other members of an infected person’s household, can be ruled out.

• The candidate virus must be able to pass from person-to-person via saliva, nasal mucus, or phlegm. That is to say, since the virus described on this website is manifestly a respiratory virus, and mainly transmits via respiratory secretions, we cannot consider non-respiratory virus candidates. Other modes of transmission for our virus may also possibly occur (via blood, feces, breast milk, semen, for example). But any virus that cannot spread by respiratory secretions is ruled out. So HIV for example is ruled out, on the grounds that is does not transmit by respiratory secretions.

• The candidate virus must be able to cause a chronic infection, at a low level (many viruses, like rhinovirus, can generally only create acute infections).

• The candidate virus must spread systemically throughout the body. Certain viruses, like human papilloma virus for example, only remain in the area they first infected (such as the mouth or genitals). The virus described on this website spreads throughout the body; it does not stay local.

• The candidate virus must be a neurological virus. Many viruses are not capable of producing mental symptoms, and we can rule these out. The virus described on this website produces many mental symptoms, like: anhedonia, generalized anxiety disorder, depression.

CURRENT PREVALENCE CONSIDERATIONS

One important detail to bear in mind is that the evidence suggests this virus is not currently prevalent in the human population. This can be deduced from the fact that nearly everyone who has been significantly exposed to this virus, via regular household/workplace contact with an infected person (that has the chronic sore throat and/or chronic nasal congestion) has contracted this virus within a year or so. The fact that this virus infects more-or-less everyone who is significantly exposed to it demonstrates that VERY few people already have this virus in their body, implying that (at present) this virus has a low prevalence in the human population. (Nevertheless, by an epidemiological calculation given below, the prevalence of this virus may be very much higher by 2020.)

This low prevalence information is an extremely useful detail: it allows us to rule out candidate viruses that are known to be already widespread. For example, just with this single piece of information on the low prevalence of the virus described on this website, we can rule out Epstein-Barr virus as a possible candidate, as Epstein-Barr virus has a high (95%) prevalence in the adult population. This point also applies to any newly discovered respiratory viruses: any newly discovered virus that is already highly prevalent in the human population is unlikely to be a good candidate for the virus described on this website. So for example, the recently-discovered Saffold virus 3 has been shown to be a very common respiratory virus, found in more than 90% of older children and adults; thus immediately we know that Saffold virus 3 is not a good candidate for the virus described on this website.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CALCULATIONS

For reasons explained above, it is believed that the virus described on this website presently has a low prevalence in the human population. Although obviously I have no precise information, let us assume that only say 1 in 10,000 people in the United States had this virus at the beginning of 2010. Taking the US population as of the order of 300 million, this equates to around 30,000 people infected in the US in 2010. This is just to give us an approximate figure to work with.

Now, my observations indicate that, on average, a person infected with this virus goes on to infect around 3 more people within the first year or so, but after that period, not many more people get infected from this first person (since the sore throat and sinus/nasal infection clears up to a degree after a year, and therefore sheds less viral particles).

So as a mathematical simplification, let us say that, on average, every person infected with this virus will infect 3 new people within the first year, but will infect no more new people after that. Of course, each of the 3 newly infected individuals will themselves go on to each infect 3 more people. So you get an increase in numbers of infected individuals in the following pattern: year zero: 1 person; one year later: 1 + 3 people; two years later: 1 + 3 + 9 people; three years later: 1 + 3 + 9 + 27 people; and in general, N years later: 1 + 3 + 3² + 3³ + 3⁴ + … + 3^N people. This Nth year expression is the sum of a geometric series, a sum which is equal to the equivalent formula: (3^N+1 – 1) / 2.

So as you would expect, this formula indicates an exponential increase in the numbers infected. And clearly, if we start with S people infected at year zero, then N years later there will be a total of S x (3^N+1 – 1) / 2 people infected.

So taking the beginning of 2010 as our year zero, when we have assumed there were S = 30,000 people infected in the United States, this means that N years later there will be 30,000 x (3^N+1 – 1) / 2 people infected. So let’s see how this exponential increase in the numbers of infected people pans out, using our formula.

In 2010, we are assuming 30,000 people infected with this virus, so:

by 2011 (N = 1), we have 30,000 x (3¹⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  120,000 people infected with this virus
by 2012 (N = 2), we have 30,000 x (3²⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  390,000 people infected with this virus
by 2013 (N = 3), we have 30,000 x (3³⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  2.2 million people infected with this virus
by 2014 (N = 4), we have 30,000 x (3⁴⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  3.6 million people infected with this virus
by 2015 (N = 5), we have 30,000 x (3⁵⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  11 million people infected with this virus
by 2016 (N = 6), we have 30,000 x (3⁶⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  33 million people infected with this virus
by 2017 (N = 7), we have 30,000 x (3⁷⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  98 million people infected with this virus
by 2018 (N = 8), we have 30,000 x (3⁸⁺¹ – 1) / 2  =  295 million people infected with this virus

In fact, as the infection prevalence gets closer to population saturation, the rate of increase will be slower than the figures given above, since with the majority of people infected, it becomes harder to find uninfected individuals to infect (the increase then become sigmoidal rather than exponential). Nevertheless, this calculation suggests that by around say 2020, most of the US population will have this virus (and likewise in other countries). This is of course a very approximate calculation, more for illustrative purposes, rather than for providing very precise figures; the spread of this virus may be faster or slower than calculated here; but this calculation does indicate that it might be wise to instigate research into this virus right now, rather than wait until it may have become significantly more prevalent.

On the other hand, if this virus is a new strain of coxsackievirus B (or a similar enterovirus) as has been suggested on this website, then note that in general, coxsackievirus B outbreaks seem to follow a regular cyclical pattern: for a given Coxsackie B serotype, you typically get recurrences of the outbreaks every three to five years, followed by a decline in prevalence, until the next outbreak. So if this is a coxsackievirus B, then possibly the above-hypothesized epidemic of slow but continually increasing prevalence may not occur, and instead the prevalence over time will follow the typical cycle of coxsackievirus B occurrence: reaching a peak, and then receding. Let’s hope this is the case. Certainly, since this website has been up (it began in May 2007), there has been no discernible increase in the numbers of visitors to this site, nor an increase in the number of comments posted, stating “these are exactly my symptoms!” or words to that effect; just a steady, uniform stream of visitors.

So, will there be an epidemic, or will this virus decline in prevalence, like typical coxsackievirus B outbreaks? One factor that suggests there may be an epidemic is the fact that this virus causes a chronic sore throat in around 30% of infected people, and chronic nasal congestion / mucus production in 70% of infected people. These two chronic respiratory infections shedding viral particles may be key factors in the transmission and spreading this virus, creating an epidemic.

Although 90% of people infected with this virus do not manifest severe symptoms, just minor health ailments (and some changes in psychological makeup) that are really more about reduced quality of life rather than serious health issues, nevertheless, around 10% will experience more severe symptoms, such as heart attacks, viral meningitis, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

ON THE INCREASED PREVALENCE OF DISEASES PRECIPITATED BY THIS VIRUS

As this virus continues to infect more and more people over the next 10 years, there will likely be an overall increase in the following medical conditions, listed below. This approximate prediction is derived from the medical conditions this virus has precipitated in my social group (comprising 30 people who I know for sure caught the same virus). Note that this is a very speculative extrapolation, based on the symptoms elicited in this small group.

Depression. The inflammatory / biochemical effect of this virus tends to induce states of mild to moderate depression in many people who are infected. So the prevalence of depression may increase.

Anhedonia. The inflammatory / biochemical effect of this virus often causes anhedonia in infected people. Anhedonia is the loss of enjoyment and pleasure in the ordinary daily events of life; plus loss of libido. The degree of anhedonia caused by this virus varies from very mild to very severe, depending on the individual. Therefore, we may see an increase in anhedonia. Widespread anhedonia in the general population may subtly reduce the drive and energy of the human species, to the detriment of the whole human project.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. This virus causes mild constant fatigue in virtually ALL people that it infects. So as this virus spreads across the world, many will acquire a mild case of chronic fatigue syndrome. However, it is expected that a small percentage of infected people will experience more significant degrees of chronic fatigue syndrome. Thus the worldwide prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome may rise noticeably over the next 10 or 15 years.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-Lite. Since this virus causes mild but permanent fatigue in virtually ALL people that it infects, we may begin to see general complaints of constant tiredness from more and more people.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The action of this virus can generate constant high anxiety levels in a subset of the people that it infects (around 10% of people). It is speculated that these anxiety symptoms are a direct result of inflammatory and biochemical processes in the brain, caused by this viral infection. Thus we may see an increase in the prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder over the next 10 years, as this virus spreads more widely.

Sudden Mild Psychosis. In some people, the anxiety generated by the inflammatory / biochemical action of this virus so severe that it can precipitate mild psychosis, sanity-disurbing mental states. (Psychosis is known to result from extreme anxiety states, so this nothing unusual). Thus we may be seeing more psychosis-related conditions in the next 10 years.

Pericarditis, Myocarditis, Myopericarditis and Other Cardiovascular Events. This virus has a very strong affinity for infecting the heart muscle, the heart pericardium, and also for causing cardiovascular events completely out of the blue, such as sudden heart attacks (and occasionally a subsequent cardiac arrest), even in the heathy. Thus it is possible that medical statistics will reflect an increased incidence of pericarditis, myocarditis, heart attacks and coronary heart disease, over the next 10 years, as this virus spreads more widely.

Viral Meningitis. This virus has a tendency to cause spontaneous viral meningitis, which can produce nontrivial personality and cognitive changes. Such viral meningitis can occur spontaneously, even several years after the virus is first contracted (in most people, the virus maintains a constantly active infection in the body, which I suspect underpins its ability to suddenly and unpredictably enter and infect organs, and/or organ linings). Therefore we might see the prevalence of viral meningitis increase over the next 10 years.

Glaucoma. In my social group, this virus precipitated glaucoma in around 10% of the people it infected (although it took around 5 years for the glaucoma to appear). The normal incidence of glaucoma in those over 40 is around 1%, so we are talking about a factor of 10 increase over the norm. Therefore, if this virus spreads more widely, we might see a large increase in the incidence of glaucoma over the next 10 years.

Tooth Decay (Dental Caries) and Periodontal Disease. This virus rapidly instigates permanent periodontal disease (receding gum line) after just a few months, in many people who contract it (plus some temporary increase in dental caries in the first year with the virus). The mechanism for tooth decay caused by this virus is probably connected to its immunosuppressive nature, which allows oral bacteria to proliferate more, thereby creating dental cavities and eroding the gum line, leading to periodontitis. This viral infection may increase levels of matrix metalloproteinases such as MMP-9, or neutrophil elastase, which can undermine gum connective tissue, thus further promoting periodontitis. So we might see the prevalence of tooth decay and periodontal disease increase over the next 10 years.

An Increase in the Virulence or Severity of Other Pathogens. Since this virus is: immunosuppressive, creates a chronic infection, and passes reasonably easily by normal social contact, then assuming more and more people acquire this virus globally, an apparent increase in severity of other human pathogens (such as bacteria) may be observed. This increase in severity of other microbial diseases may be because this virus is weakening human immune systems. For example, from the mid 1990’s increased numbers of healthy adults were falling ill with invasive group A streptococcus infections (group A is primary Streptococcus pyogenes). The reason for this increase in virulence of group A streptococcus, and the resurgence of severe group A streptococcus infections, is not known; one can theorize that there may have been some (bacteriophage-delivered) genetic variations to these bacteria, making them more virulent. Alternatively, it might be that a slow and little-noted – but nevertheless pandemic – spread of the virus described on this website has chronically suppressed immune function in the people that caught it, in such as way that their metabolisms are now less able to fight such virulent bacteria. However, it must be said that the immunosuppression is greatest just after catching this virus, and people remain immunosuppressed for a year or two after (they have more secondary infections); but after a few years, the immunosuppression appears to abate. After a few years, people with this virus may find that in fact they get increased immunity from catching colds (a common phenomenon for people with CFS).

All of the above conditions and diseases have manifested in my social group (around 30 people) — and in general, each disease/condition listed above has suddenly appeared in multiple people in this social group after they caught this virus.

SYMPTOMS CHECKLIST

In order to differentiate the virus described on this website from other viruses or bacteria that can cause, or are associated with, chronic fatigue syndrome, we need to focus on the symptoms of this virus that are fairly unique. Though this website does provide general information on chronic fatigue syndrome and the many viruses or bacteria associated with CFS, the primary objective of this website is to describe and bring to attention this possibly new virus.

So I have drawn up six conditions such that when an infected individual satisfies all six, there is a very good chance that individual has the same virus described on this site (rather than having some other virus or bacterium associated with CFS). These six conditions are:

(1) That individual has a chronic sore throat and/or a chronic nasal or sinus congestion (or post nasal drip) with thick, viscous mucus. The sore throat must have started as a herpangina-like sore throat: red inflamed skin on the arch at the back of the soft palette (the palatoglossal arch), and also behind this on the pharynx. This sore throat only manifests small papules (raised areas of skin that do not contain fluid), but no blisters (fluid-filled raised areas) or ulcers (a sore area with a break in the skin).

The sore throat will have lasted for many years, and, even though it may eventually diminish, it will have never quite gone away. Likewise for the chronic nasal/sinus congestion.

(2) That individual has developed many of the mental symptoms described on this site within months of catching this virus (these symptoms should include several or all of the following: anhedonia, depression, anxiety, fatigue, loss of drive, loss of motivation, social withdrawal, emotional delicacy and frailty, memory problems, confusion, dulled intellect or mild dementia).

(3) That individual has the wrinkly skin symptoms (when they later appear, around year after first catching the virus), as well as (possibly) the red skin areas on the upper chest (when they later appear), and (possibly) the sudden onset of periodontitis (receding gums).

(4) That individual has several of the following symptoms: pins and needles, stomach ache and pains, chronic flatulence, feeling of slackness in the muscles of the pelvic girdle, loss of hearing acuity, tinnitus, blurred vision, joint pains, weak immune system, white tongue coating, weight gain on abdomen, muscle cramps (especially in the calf muscles), slight numbness of the skin.

(5) That individual has noticed that most of their family and friends have, one-by-one, been infected by this virus, and that this infected group are manifesting similar symptoms (though in most people the symptoms are usually in a much milder form). People will generally be infected one-by-one in a household, over a period of many months to a year. This is because this virus is not that contagious, so usually it will take many months for everyone to become infected, once one individual has introduced the virus to the household. So this relatively slow timescale of infection of the whole household should have been observed. If the timescale of household infection was much faster, then it is probably not this virus you have. The only exception to this timescale of many months is in countries like China, where a this respiratory virus may conceivably infect the whole family in a matter of weeks (this is because in China, family members share food from the same bowl with chopsticks, thus making transmission of the virus by saliva more likely, and therefore causing a more rapid spread to all family members).

(6) From my experience, for every say 30 people infected with this virus, you would expect to see at least one or more heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems like myocarditis or pericarditis. So if an individual has this virus, it will very likely have precipitated sudden cardiovascular problems in one or more people in that individual’s family and social circle.

For anyone who satisfies all of the above six conditions, I start to be confident that they very likely have the same virus as me. Satisfying conditions (5) and (6) is particularly important, as one of the things that differentiates my virus from the general case of chronic fatigue syndrome is that my virus tends to transmit to and affect EVERYONE in the individual’s social group. Conditions (5) and (6) are about the effect of this virus on the individual’s wider social circle.

And if anyone has been able to accurately observe the incubation period of their virus when they first caught it (or when one of their friends later caught it), and noticed that this incubation period is in the 8 to 24 hour range, then this even further supports the evidence that you have the same virus as describe in this website.

If you do not satisfy all of the above six conditions, but most of them, you may still possibly have my virus. I am just providing these six conditions for general guidance. If you can say yes to all six, then I would be confident to put you into the “very likely has this same virus” category.

Note: it will generally take up to two years (after initially contracting this virus) for all its symptoms to manifest, especially the late-appearing fine skin wrinkling and pelvis/leg weakness. And of course, regarding conditions (5) and (6), it will take one or two years before most of your social group (close-contact family, friends and colleagues) will have caught this virus (from you, and then subsequently from each other); and then it will take a further two years before the people in your social group fully manifest its symptoms. So you have to wait some time and observe yourself and others; only after several years will you know for sure if you have this virus.

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