About Epstein Barr
“Epstein Bar Virus (EBV) is a herpes like virus thought to be the cause of infectious mononucleosis and Burkitt’s lymphoma. It is contracted through the cells in the lining of the mouth and throat, and can therefore be spread by sharing utensils, kissing, and unsanitary habits. EBV symptoms, frequently duplicated in other conditions, include debilitating fatigue, fever, swollen glands, arthritic symptoms, multiple allergies and difficulties in concentrating. People with Chronic Fatigue syndrome often have a high level of EBV antibodies, but EBV is no longer regarded (as it was in the 1980’s) as the sole or even necessarily a contributing cause of Chronic Fatigue.” (Burton Goldberg and Larry Triveri. Chronic Fatigue, Fibromayalgia and Lyme Disease, 2004).
According to Linda Page, Author of Healthy Healing: A Guide to Self-Healing for Everyone, 12th Edition
Epstein-Barr is the virus thought to be the cause of mononucleosis. Many experts believe that by adulthood most people have the virus in their blood stream; therefore it is not a matter of what "activates" the virus, but rather, how if at all the immune system keeps the virus "in check". In other words, in healthy adults, the EBV is kept from multiplying or replicating itself by a healthy immune system; so concerns about "spreading" the virus would only become a reality if other adults have compromised immune systems.
The relationship of EBV to CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) occurs in the presence of EBV in the blood work of individuals with CFS. These symptoms of CFS are mostly anecdotal that are hard or impossible to measure in laboratory tests. Exhaustion, no resistance to infection, sleep disorders, mood swings, digestive problems, depression and vertigo are all found in various degrees of sufferers with CFS. When CFS was first noticed in fairly large populations in the 1980s it was called the "yuppie disease" because those affected with it were found to be hard driving overachievers. Many sufferers were undiagnosed because the symptoms were hard to prove, and laboratory tests often checked out as "normal". At some point after CFS was first named as a disease, it was noticed that sufferers of the anecdotal symptoms of CFS also generally had high levels of EBV in their blood. This was the first time a lab test could "prove" any "symptom" that was related to the host of complaints that patients with CFS experienced.
EBV is not synonymous with CFS, nor is it the same thing; but, logically, those with a weakened immune system (and CFS is a classis case of an immune system disorder) are also unable to keep the EBV in check. So the two often go together, and the EBV readings are sometimes used to correlate with other data in diagnosing CFS.