SIMIAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-RELATED STEALTH VIRUS ISOLATED FROM THE CEREBROSPINAL-FLUID OF A PATIENT WITH BIPOLAR PSYCHOSIS AND ACUTE ENCEPHALOPATHY

A cytopathic 'stealth' virus was cultured from the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with a bipolar psychotic disorder who developed a severe encephalopathy leading to a vegetative state. DNA sequencing of a pol ymerase chain reaction-amplified product from infected cultures has id entified the virus as an African green monkey simian cytomegalovirus ( SCMV)-related stealth virus. The virus is similar to the SCMV-related stealth virus isolated from a patient with chronic fatigue syndrome. T he findings support the concepts that stealth viruses can account for a spectrum of dysfunctional brain diseases and that some of these viru ses may have arisen from live polio viral vaccines.