{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,21]],"date-time":"2026-03-21T21:11:30Z","timestamp":1774127490501,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]],"date-time":"2025-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741910400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Swedish Research Council","award":["4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138"]}]},{"name":"Swedish Research Council","award":["211832Pj01H2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["211832Pj01H2"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002794","name":"Swedish Cancer Society","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002794","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002794","name":"Swedish Cancer Society","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["211832Pj01H2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["211832Pj01H2"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002794","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Link\u00f6ping University funds","award":["4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138"]}]},{"name":"Link\u00f6ping University funds","award":["211832Pj01H2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["211832Pj01H2"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>An exhausted antiviral immune response is observed in myalgic encephalomyelitis\/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME\/CFS) and post-SARS-CoV-2 syndrome, also termed long COVID. In this study, potential mechanisms behind this exhaustion were investigated. First, the viral load of Epstein\u2013Barr virus (EBV), human adenovirus (HAdV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was determined in sputum samples (n = 29) derived from ME\/CFS patients (n = 13), healthy controls (n = 10), elderly healthy controls (n = 4), and immunosuppressed controls (n = 2). Secondly, autoantibodies (autoAbs) to type I interferon (IFN-I) in sputum were analyzed to possibly explain impaired viral immunity. We found that ME\/CFS patients released EBV at a significantly higher level compared to controls (p = 0.0256). HHV6 was present in ~50% of all participants at the same level. HAdV was detected in two cases with immunosuppression and severe ME\/CFS, respectively. HCMV and SARS-CoV-2 were found only in immunosuppressed controls. Notably, anti-IFN-I autoAbs in ME\/CFS and controls did not differ, except in a severe ME\/CFS case showing an increased level. We conclude that ME\/CFS patients, compared to controls, have a significantly higher load of EBV. IFN-I autoAbs cannot explain IFN-I dysfunction, with the possible exception of severe cases, also reported in severe SARS-CoV-2. We forward that additional mechanisms, such as the viral evasion of IFN-I effect via the degradation of IFN-receptors, may be present in ME\/CFS, which demands further studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v17030422","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]],"date-time":"2025-03-14T13:07:51Z","timestamp":1741957671000},"page":"422","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Prevalence of EBV, HHV6, HCMV, HAdV, SARS-CoV-2, and Autoantibodies to Type I Interferon in Sputum from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis\/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Ulf","family":"Hannestad","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical & Clinical Sciences, Division of Cell & Neurobiology, Link\u00f6ping University, SE-58185 Link\u00f6ping, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6949-1213","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Annika","family":"Allard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Microbiology, Clinical Virology, Ume\u00e5 University, SE-90185 Ume\u00e5, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kent","family":"Nilsson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pain and Rehabilitation, Link\u00f6ping University Hospital, SE-58758 Link\u00f6ping, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5082-6423","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anders","family":"Ros\u00e9n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical & Clinical Sciences, Division of Cell & Neurobiology, Link\u00f6ping University, SE-58185 Link\u00f6ping, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Myalgic Encephalomyelitis\/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Adults: United States, 2021\u20132022","volume":"488","author":"Vahratian","year":"2023","journal-title":"NCHS Data Brief."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"412","DOI":"10.3389\/fped.2018.00412","article-title":"Estimating Prevalence, Demographics, and Costs of ME\/CFS Using Large Scale Medical Claims Data and Machine Learning","volume":"6","author":"Valdez","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. 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