Enterovirus

71 type of enteroviruses have been discovered. Among these are Coxsackie A viruses, Coxsackie B viruses, echoviruses and polioviruses.

Enteroviruses, unlike herpesviruses, usually leave the body after an effective immune response. However, they can cause chronic or life-threatening conditions in certain populations.

Role in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Enteroviral infection has been posited as a key etiological factor in myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The evidence for enteroviral persistence in ME patients has been mixed.

Treatment
There are no FDA-approved treatments for enteroviruses. The drug Pleconaril has been shown to have activity against a number of enteroviruses    but has not been approved by the FDA.

Published Studies

 * In one study, enterovirus-specific RNA three standard deviations greater than controls was found in muscle biopsies of 20% of ME patients studied..
 * A Swedish study using the Fukuda criteria was unable to find evidence of any persistent enteroviral infection in fecal samples, muscle biopsies, or cerebrospinal fluid.
 * A study on brain tissue samples from a deceased ME patient found evidence of enterovirus specific genomic sequences and enteroviral protein in the patient's cerebral cortex.
 * A second postmortem tissue study found positive enterovirus PCR sequences in the muscle, heart, brain stem, and hypothalamus of a deceased ME patient.
 * A study on stomach tissue samples from CFS patients found that 82% of patients have evidence of chronic enterovirus infection of the stomach.
 * A longitudinal study found that a percentage of patients presenting to emergency care with acute enterovirus infection would go on to develop symptoms of ME and CFS and had demonstrable evidence of viral persistence.