Fatigue after infection: aetiology and pathophysiology
Andrew R Lloyd
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
Inflammation and Infection Research Centre
School of Medical Sciences
University of New South Wales
Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Tel: 02 9385 2534
Fax: +61 2 9385 1390
Email: a.lloyd@unsw.edu.au
Microbiology Australia 34(3) 142-144 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA13047
Published: 4 September 2013
Abstract
During acute infection, a stereotyped set of physiological and behavioural responses, result in manifestations such as fever, musculo-skeletal pain and anorexia, as well as fatigue. These constitutional symptoms, including fatigue, typically resolve in parallel with the fever. However, in a minority off subjects a disabling fatigue state may persist for weeks, months or longer. This enigmatic post-infective fatigue state continues to defy pathophysiological researchers. A popular, but fruitless, avenue of investigation has been the search either for the undiscovered pathogen, with XMRV being a recent telling example, or abnormal persistence of a recognised pathogen with Lyme disease providing similar dead ends, including in Australia.
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