Abstract
Objective. To investigate the skeletal muscle of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) for parvovirus B19.
Methods.DNA was extracted from skeletal muscle biopsies from six patients with CFS diagnosed according to the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and six control cases.
Extracted DNA was checked for purity by agarose gel electrophore-sis and examined for the presence of B19 DNA by a nested polymer-ase chain reaction (PCR) method.
Results.One of the six biopsies from the CFS group and one of the six from the control group were positive for B19 DNA (Two-tailed P value = 1). Nucleotide sequencing of the PCR product from the CFS patient revealed one silent mutation from A -> G at nucleotide 1530 when compared with the published sequence. Nucleotide sequencing of the PCR product from the control patient with mild arthralgia revealed 10 mutations when compared with the published sequence, all silent except the one at nt 1466 (G -> C), which resulted in an amino acid change from serine to threonine.
Conclusion.The incidence of parvovirus B19 detected in muscle is not increased in patients with CFS compared with controls and the virus in unlikely to play a role in the aetiology of this disorder.