Researchers can now explain how long-term diseases chronic fatigue syndrome and long-Covid develop in the body.
Photo: 123RF
They are now looking at how to help those suffering recover.
University of Otago Emeritus Professor in Biochemistry Warren Tate told Morning Report that researchers had made several promising discoveries which could aid the understanding of people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (MECFS).
Research has found that while most people's bodies mount a temporary immune response, the brains of people with MECFS were tricked into enacting a continuous response.
"People who are developing long Covid or get MECFS after a viral infection or a severe stress event they actually develop a chronic inflammatory immune response in the body system, what we call the peripheral system.
"But we know these diseases have strong neurological symptoms like brain fog and sleep disfunction so we know that the brain is involved."
"A vicious cycle is set up where the brain communicates back to the body that it's in danger" - Professor in Biochemistry Warren Tate
Tate has been working on developing a model to explain the brain's connection with the body's immune response to a viral infection.
"What we think is a vicious cycle is set up where the brain communicates back to the body that it's in danger so therefore the inflammatory responses just keeps going.
"There's inflammation in the brain, we call that neuro-inflammation, and the brain has it's own immune system so the brain is slightly misfunctioning and communicating back to the body."
Warren Tate in his office. File photo. Photo: RNZ
Having studied MECFS for over a decade, Tate said most patients would deal with their condition for the rest of their life, a fact that meant it was even more important to compare and research the impact of long Covid.
"What we're hoping to do with this new effort of really establishing a platform for future research is to make sure this doesn't happen for long Covid people and also to help MECFS people so that they can get some amelioration of their symptoms.
Using a rugby analogy to describe how much researchers knew about these conditions, Tate said researchers had defined the playing field, they knew who the players were and now they were "making intelligent guesses about the moves they make".
Understanding how the viruses acted would allow them to develop future treatment strategies for people with MECFS and long Covid.
Research was still in early stages but some interesting discoveries had already been made, he said.
After first being proposed in 2018, research imaging has now given evidence that people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome experience neuroinflammation.
Tate said this neuroinflammation symptom could be targeted or suppressed with antiviral drugs.
Research also found that latent viruses from a number of years ago were able to be reactivated in people with MECFS, including Epstein Barr virus which causes glandular fever.
Meanwhile, another piece of research found that the chemical hormone seratonin could be highly dangerous when produced in excess in people with MECFS.