3 ms·
The viral angle is fascinating to me. From the article: >Viruses can trigger ER [endoplasmic reticulum] stress, perhaps explaining why ME/CFS and related cond
by InSteady 3y ago
The viral angle is fascinating to me.
From the article:
>Viruses can trigger ER [endoplasmic reticulum] stress, perhaps explaining why ME/CFS and related conditions often arise after infection.
Since you mention herpes, I'll bring up what I've read about Epstein-Barr (EBV) (which belongs to the herpes family of viruses). It's estimated that 90% of the global population will contract EBV in their lifetime. In most people, EBV goes dormant for after the initial infection is cleared and more or less stays that way for life. But in some people, for unknown reasons, it can chronically reactivate, triggered by stress, other illnesses, immune dysfunction episodes, etc. Apparently it loves to hang out in the spleen, although I believe it has been found to reside in other organs as well in these cases of chronic reactivation.
I would be shocked if this were the only virus to do so, but at present it seems to be the most studied, perhaps because EBV is fairly strongly correlated with a bunch of cancers, auto-immune disorders, and chronic conditions (including MS as recently demonstrated in a huge study by the VA, n=10,000,000). Very interesting and important stuff. I look forward to further research into these mysterious long-term effects of viral infection.