The “chronic, active epstein‐barr virus infection” syndrome and primary fibromyalgia

Abstract

Fifty patients with primary fibromyalgia who had been followed in an academic rheumatology practice frequently reported symptoms thought to be typical of “chronic Epstein‐Barr virus infection,” but not of fibromyalgia: recurrent sore throat (54%), recurrent rash (47%), chronic cough (40%), recurrent adenopathy (33%), and recurrent low‐grade fevers (28%). In 55% of the patients, illness had begun suddenly, with what seemed to be a viral syndrome. Antibody titers to Epstein‐Barr virus in the patients with fibromyalgia, however, were not significantly different from those in age‐ and sex‐matched “healthy” and “unhealthy” control subjects.