Abstract:
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating disease with a complex clinical presentation and an unknown etiology. Various viral infections have been proposed as potential triggers of ME/CFS onset, but no specific pathogen has been identified in all cases of postinfectious ME/CFS.
The symptomatology of the postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, or long COVID, mirrors that of ME/CFS, with nearly half of long COVID patients meeting ME/CFS diagnostic criteria. The influx of newly diagnosed patients has reinvigorated interest in ME/CFS pathogenesis research, with an emphasis on viral triggers.
This review summarizes the current understanding of ME/CFS research on viral triggers, including blood virome screening studies. To further elucidate the molecular basis of ME/CFS, there is a need to develop innovative bioinformatics tools capable of analyzing complex virome data and integrating multiomics information.
Source: Obraitis D, Li D. Blood virome research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: challenges and opportunities. Curr Opin Virol. 2024 Nov 12:101437. doi: 10.1016/j.coviro.2024.101437. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39537445. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879625724000518 (Full text)