Prevalence of #EBV, #HHV6, #HCMV, #HAdV, #SARS-CoV-2, and #Autoantibodies to Type I #Interferon in #Sputum from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / #CFS Patients
Abstract An exhausted antiviral immune response is observed in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and post-SARS-CoV-2 syndrome , also termed long COVID . In this study, potential mechanisms behind this exhaustion were investigated. First, the viral load of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), human adenovirus (HAdV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was determined in sputum samples (n = 29) derived from ME/CFS patients (n = 13), healthy controls (n = 10), elderly healthy controls (n = 4), and immunosuppressed controls (n = 2). Secondly, autoantibodies (autoAbs) to type I interferon (IFN-I) in sputum were analyzed to possibly explain impaired viral immunity. We found that ME/CFS patients released EBV at a significantly higher level compared to controls (p = 0.0256). HHV6 was present in ~50% of all participants at the same level. HAdV was detected in two cases with immunosuppression an...