New data on chronic fatigue syndrome in persistent COVID-19

July 13 () –

Researchers at the University of Otago, New Zealand, have discovered how postviral fatigue syndromes, including persistent COVID-19, become life-changing illnesses and why patients frequently relapse.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which is often caused by a viral infection, is known to cause brain symptoms of neuroinflammation, loss of homeostasis, brain fog, lack of restful sleep, and poor response even to small stress factors.

Persistent COVID-19 has similar effects in people and is also thought to be caused by neuroinflammation.

The paper’s lead author, Emeritus Professor Warren Tate, from the University of Otago’s Department of Biochemistry, says it is not well understood how these debilitating effects play out in the brain.

In a study published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Neurology, he and colleagues from Otago, Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Technology Sydney developed a unifying model to explain how the brain-focused symptoms of these diseases are maintained. through a brain-body connection.

They propose that, after an initial viral infection or stressful event, subsequent systemic pathology travels to the brain through neurovascular pathways or a dysfunctional blood-brain barrier. This results in chronic neuroinflammation, leading to sustained disease with cycles of recovery from chronic relapses.

The model proposes that healing does not occur because a signal continuously circulates from the brain to the body, causing the patient to relapse.

The creation of this model is not only important for the “massive research effort ahead of us”, but also to give recognition to sufferers of ME/CFS and persistent COVID-19.

“These diseases are closely related, and it is clear that the biological basis of persistent COVID-19 is unequivocally connected to the original COVID-19 infection, so there should no longer be any debate or doubt that the syndromes of postviral fatigue such as ME/CFS have a biological basis and greatly altered physiology,” says Tate.