Peter Medveczky

Peter G. Medveczky, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine Molecular Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. He studies human herpesvirus 6 and its connection to illness, including chronic fatigue syndrome.

Open Letter to The Lancet
Two open letters to the editor of The Lancet urged the editor to commission a fully independent review of the PACE trial, which the journal had published in 2011. In 2016, Dr. Medveczky, along with 41 colleagues in the ME/CFS field, signed the second letter.

Notable studies

 * 2014, Editorial - Is inherited human herpesvirus 6 the perpetrator behind some cases of chronic fatigue syndrome?
 * 2013, Persistent human herpesvirus-6 infection in patients with an inherited form of the virus (FULL TEXT) Abstract - Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6)A and 6B are ubiquitous betaherpesviruses viruses with lymphotropic and neurotropic potential. As reported earlier, these viruses establish latency by integration into the telomeres of host chromosomes. Chromosomally integrated HHV-6 (CIHHV-6) can be transmitted vertically from parent to child. Some CIHHV-6 patients are suffering from neurological symptoms, while others remain asymptomatic. Four patients with CIHHV-6 and CNS dysfunction were treated with valganciclovir or foscarnet. HHV-6 replication was detected by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction amplification of a late envelope glycoprotein. In this study we also compared the inherited and persistent HHV-6 viruses by DNA sequencing. The prevalence of CIHHV-6 in this cohort of adult patients from the USA suffering from a wide range of neurological symptoms including long-term fatigue were found significantly greater than the reported 0.8% in the general population. Long-term antiviral therapy inhibited HHV-6 replication as documented by loss of viral mRNA production. Sequence comparison of the mRNA and the inherited viral genome revealed that the transcript is produced by an exogenous virus. In conclusion, the data presented here document that some individuals with CIHHV-6 are infected persistently with exogenous HHV-6 strains that lead to a wide range of neurological symptoms; the proposed name for this condition is inherited herpesvirus 6 syndrome or IHS.

Online presence

 * University of South Florida Faculty page
 * ResearchGate

Learn more

 * "USF-led study suggests some patients with chronic fatigue-like illness may benefit from anti-herpesvirus drug treatment"