Shots - Health Blog Thu September 22, 2011 Virus As The Cause Of
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Shot Down, Again A theory that a virus
is the culprit for the mysterious chronic fatigue syndrome has
just suffered another serious blow. But some patient advocates
are standing by it, saying more research is needed. Researchers
from nine different labs looked for the XMRV virus in the blood
of 15 people with the condition and 15 healthy people. Only two
labs found the virus, and even then, they found it at the same
rate in the patients as in the healthy folks. The study appears
in the online version of the journal Science. Chronic fatigue
syndrome is by all accounts a difficult illness – there's no
known cause and consequently no test to detect it. There's also
no cure. People can suffer the intermittent bouts of crushing
fatigue and pain for a few months or for decades. One woman in
Seattle who says she's had it for two decades went 15 months
without having a "good" day. Many causes have been suggested
over the years,