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Inflammation in the gut may also be part of the picture, as inflammation in the peripheral organs such as the gut are known to trigger nerve signals sent to the brain (via the vagus nerve) which instruct the brain to ramp up its own internal state immune activation. So in this way, peripheral...

When it comes to the effects of low-grade inflammation in the brain and how this might cause the mental health conditions it has been linked to (which include major depression, bipolar, OCD, schizophrenia and the cognitive symptoms of ME/CFS), the answer might lie in the way the...

The purpose of these studies which detected the deletions in the 5′ non-translated region of the virus is not to demonstrate that non-cytolytic / non-cytopathic enterovirus exists, which as you say, we already knew. There does not appear to be much doubt that chronic non-cytolytic enterovirus...

Yes, in the Chapman and Tracy et al 2005 paper, they isolated persistent coxsackievirus B3 from the hearts of mice that had been infected with this virus one year earlier. They detected mutations in the virus: the small deletions in the 5′ terminal region of the viral genome. That was the first...

That is very sad to hear. Prof Booth was one of the authors of the Myhill, Booth and McLaren-Howard studies on energy metabolism dysfunction in ME/CFS, and 2 years ago he actually commented on a PR forum thread about these studies (his post is here).

That is the million dollar question. Non-cytolytic enteroviruses replicate very slowly, so it's not as if these viruses are outgunning the immune system by their speed of replication. It's a very slow infection, so in principle you would think that the immune system should have no problem in...

The small deletions that occur at the terminal end of the enterovirus genome don't entirely block viral RNA replication, they just greatly reduce the replication rate by a factor of around 100. With this much reduced replication rate, the virus can no longer produce enough viral particles, so...

Because enteroviruses are RNA-based viruses, which mutate more quickly than DNA-based viruses, enteroviruses do have a higher mutation rate. However, such ongoing mutation and evolution of the virus is not really the crux of the matter when it comes to these persistent enterovirus infections...

Yes, I wish people would publish a summary of why a line of research no longer appeared valid, if just for the historical record.

It would not be possible to say in an individual case whether an persistent enterovirus is involved; but generally-speaking, the studies show that that persistent enterovirus exists in ME/CFS. These were studies done in the UK in the late 1980s and 1990s using muscle biopsies. There have been a...

I find all theories of ME/CFS interesting, but the enteroviral theory is the oldest and original one, and probably the most developed theory. I am also partial to any theories about immune dysfunction in ME/CFS, such as the immune priming theory. Theories don't necessarily have to be mutually...

Thanks Robert, typos and grammatical errors are useful to have pointed out. I'll make the corrections shortly. There do appear to be some conventions used when referring to viruses. In the literature you sometimes see phrases such as "it is common to find virus in the tissues", instead of...

That is very true, and for that very reason, I intend to ask a few virologists who are experts in non-cytolytic enterovirus if they would kindly take a look at the article, and point out any errors or embarrassing naiveties that it may contain. Only after such expert scrutiny would I feel...

As a complete MEpedia novice who has only been dabbing in editing in recent weeks, I found the feedback from @Graham very useful, and I've already implemented changes based on his suggestions. (He even wrote a charming limerick about the subject of the article, at the bottom of this post!)

Yes that right, there does not seem to be any dispute that non-cytolytic enteroviruses exist; the controversy is whether or not they play a role in the various diseases that they are found. The non-cytolytic enterovirus article focuses mainly on explaining what these viruses are: how they arise...

@Jonathan Edwards, this above-cited 1994 paper actually says what I mentioned above:

I personally would not mind at all including a qualifying statement like that, assuming it is true that most of the research community do not view non-cytolytic enterovirus as likely to have any disease-causing effects (which I expect it might well be). However, one problem I can see with...

Thanks, I was not aware that there were negative studies, nor the issue of non-specific binding. The Plotz 1992 study appears to be this one: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1349938 I also just found two further negative studies from 1993 and 1994: https://ard.bmj.com/content/52/8/575...

As it happens I do: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2883345 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2160802 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10559326

Wow that's an epic write-up!