A virus that causes cancer in mice may be behind the development of chronic fatigue syndrome in humans , according to the results of a study by the US National Institute of Health. As the authors explain in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), after analyzing DNA samples from a total of 37 patients, viral remains have been discovered in 86.5 percent of the subjects .
It is not the first time that this disease has been related to the presence of a virus, since in 2009 the XMRV virus was detected in a high percentage of patients, also related to prostate tumors. However, this time the analyzes carried out confirmed that it was another virus , murine leukemia , from the same family as XMRV, and that it is behind cancer in mice.
The researchers tried to contrast this finding by analyzing the genetic sequence of a total of 44 healthy subjects, and this virus was only detected in 6.8 percent of the cases. In spite of everything, the author of this study, Harvey Alter, admits that it is necessary to continue investigating whether the presence of this virus is related to the appearance of the disease, "of which only the clinical symptoms are known at the moment."
