HIGH TITERS OF ANTI-EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS-DNA POLYMERASE ARE FOUND IN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE FATIGUING ILLNESS

Forty-one patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), 76 healthy con trols matched with the patient group for age range, sex, race, and soc ioeconomic class, and 22 symptomatic patients with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) had serum sampled for antibodies against 2 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) replicating enzymes. Abnormal titers of antibodies were f ound twice as often in CFS patients as controls (34.1% vs. 17.1%), wit h SAD patients having an intermediate frequency (27.3%). Stratifying f or disease severity sharpened the differences considerably, with the s icker CFS and SAD patients having 52% and 50% abnormal tests, respecti vely; more mildly afflicted CFS and SAD patients had a frequency of ab normal tests in the normal range. Antibodies to EBV DNA polymerase (DN AP) were the more sensitive of the two tests in that they were positiv e in all cases but one. These findings suggest that antibodies against EBV DNAP may be a useful marker in delineating a subset of patients w ith severe fatiguing illness for appropriate treatment trials and for monitoring their outcomes,