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A Wave of Ill-Health Due to Coxsackievirus B Spreading from Person to Person
I thought it would be of interest to list the illnesses, serious and mild, that appeared in over 30 friends and family who caught the same virus as me, which blood tests, incubation period and symptoms indicate is likely the enterovirus coxsackievirus B4 (though it may be a nastier than usual strain of CVB4 — a completely new strain of CVB4 was discovered in China, and maybe that is the virus I caught).
In my case, this enterovirus I caught triggered depression, blunted emotions, anhedonia, generalized anxiety disorder, chronic sore throat and periodontitis among other symptoms, and later ME/CFS appeared after I suffered an episode of meningitis and/or encephalitis likely caused by this same virus.
But in the 30+ people who caught my virus during this outbreak, a whole array of symptoms and illnesses manifested soon after they contracted it. In some people, medically diagnosed chronic physical and mental illnesses appeared; and in other cases, chronic subclinical physical and mental symptoms appeared that although not serious, reduced the quality of life, and impaired the mental health and mental normalcy of those individuals.
As I observed all this happening, I was astounded how coxsackievirus B can cause not only overt disease, but also cause lots of permanent subclinical symptoms. We are more aware of the overt illnesses that viruses can cause or are associated with, but there is very little research investigating how such infections can cause permanent subclinical complaints.
The purpose of this thread is to provide some case evidence of how frequently coxsackievirus B can trigger serious illnesses in a small percentage of people, and also cause milder subclinical symptoms in many more individuals.
So here is a list of the overt illnesses and permanent subclinical symptoms that appeared in various friends and family in the first few years of acquiring this Coxsackie B virus (for anonymity reasons, I have named these individuals as Person 01, Person 02, etc):
Illnesses and Subclinical Conditions Appearing in the People Who Caught My Enterovirus
The following illnesses and conditions typically developed usually in first few years of catching my Coxsackie B4 virus (illnesses in bold text were properly medically diagnosed by a doctor; mental health conditions are in purple text):
The above list details the specific diseases and symptoms that appeared in various individuals. A few people not in this list also caught my virus, and also developed some of the general symptoms that my virus would typically cause (symptoms detailed in the next section).
General Permanent Subclinical Symptoms My Virus Precipitated in Most People
The permanent mostly subclinical effects that my enterovirus seemed to have on most people are the following:
So you can see that the coxsackievirus B4 I caught had a tendency to cause overt illnesses such as sudden heart attacks, chronic myocarditis, type 1 diabetes and in my case myalgic encephalomyelitis (all of which are known to be linked to coxsackievirus B).
Then there was a high incidence of ruptured bowel (gastrointestinal perforation), glaucoma, hypothyroidism, periodontitis, depression and generalized anxiety disorder appearing soon after the 30+ people caught this virus, but these illnesses have not been linked to coxsackievirus B in published studies (so in future researchers might want to examine whether coxsackievirus B is linked to these conditions).
And in addition, this Coxsackie B4 virus also caused many people to develop permanent subclinical conditions such as mild fatigue, reduced emotions, mild anhedonia, a more negative and cynical personality, loss of libido, sound sensitivity (hyperacusis), lowered stress tolerance, intellectual atrophy, mild worsening of memory and "tip-of-the-tongue" word recall problems, circulation problems (cold hands and feet), chronic sore throat and flatulence.
I was astounded not only by the large amount of overt and subclinical illnesses my virus triggered in friends and family, but also equally astounded that the medical profession have generally not been able to track the variety of ill effects that enteroviruses like coxsackievirus B and echovirus produce as they spread in the community.
Although having said that, I think it's quite hard to make the sort of observations I was able to make, unless you are, like me, intimately situated at the epicenter of spread of a virus. And even then it is hard, because normally you would not know who has caught the virus. But with my particular virus, I was able to track its person-to-person spread relatively easily because of its characteristic symptoms such as the unusual fine crêpe paper-like skin wrinkling, or the chronic sore throat / chronic nasal congestion symptoms. Also it's extremely rapid incubation period of 12 hours made it easier to track.
Further Information
My website describing my virus and its symptoms can be found here: https://chronicsorethroat.wordpress.com
On the subject of diseases precipitated by coxsackievirus B spreading through groups of people, the late Dr John Richardson was a GP who studied ME/CFS and coxsackievirus B for nearly 50 years, and was an keen observationist who would often notice how once coxsackievirus B got into a family unit, it would spread from one family member to the next, causing perhaps ME/CFS in one person, a heart attack in the next, myocarditis in a third, pleurodynia in a fourth, and maybe some mysterious health problems in a fifth.
Few GPs these days make such family-wide observations, which is why I think the great number of illnesses that coxsackievirus B can cause is often not properly recognized.
For further information on Richardson's observations on coxsackievirus B in families, see the chapter "Familial Consequences of Viral Illness" in Dr John Richardson's book Enteroviral and Toxin Mediated Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Other Organ Pathologies.
I thought it would be of interest to list the illnesses, serious and mild, that appeared in over 30 friends and family who caught the same virus as me, which blood tests, incubation period and symptoms indicate is likely the enterovirus coxsackievirus B4 (though it may be a nastier than usual strain of CVB4 — a completely new strain of CVB4 was discovered in China, and maybe that is the virus I caught).
In my case, this enterovirus I caught triggered depression, blunted emotions, anhedonia, generalized anxiety disorder, chronic sore throat and periodontitis among other symptoms, and later ME/CFS appeared after I suffered an episode of meningitis and/or encephalitis likely caused by this same virus.
But in the 30+ people who caught my virus during this outbreak, a whole array of symptoms and illnesses manifested soon after they contracted it. In some people, medically diagnosed chronic physical and mental illnesses appeared; and in other cases, chronic subclinical physical and mental symptoms appeared that although not serious, reduced the quality of life, and impaired the mental health and mental normalcy of those individuals.
As I observed all this happening, I was astounded how coxsackievirus B can cause not only overt disease, but also cause lots of permanent subclinical symptoms. We are more aware of the overt illnesses that viruses can cause or are associated with, but there is very little research investigating how such infections can cause permanent subclinical complaints.
The purpose of this thread is to provide some case evidence of how frequently coxsackievirus B can trigger serious illnesses in a small percentage of people, and also cause milder subclinical symptoms in many more individuals.
So here is a list of the overt illnesses and permanent subclinical symptoms that appeared in various friends and family in the first few years of acquiring this Coxsackie B virus (for anonymity reasons, I have named these individuals as Person 01, Person 02, etc):
Illnesses and Subclinical Conditions Appearing in the People Who Caught My Enterovirus
The following illnesses and conditions typically developed usually in first few years of catching my Coxsackie B4 virus (illnesses in bold text were properly medically diagnosed by a doctor; mental health conditions are in purple text):
Person 00 ➤ Myself: I developed depression, substantial generalized anxiety disorder, anhedonia, blunted emotions, and later after an episode of viral encephalitis, developed ME/CFS.
Person 01 ➤ Developed Sjögren's syndrome (an autoimmune condition linked to coxsackievirus B4).
Person 02 ➤ Developed sound sensitivity (hyperacusis), and cold hand and feet, and a chronic sore throat. Years later developed mitral valve prolapse, which is linked to CVB
Person 03 ➤ Developed glaucoma and hypothyroidism after a few years with the virus
Person 04 ➤ Developed glaucoma after a few years with the virus
Person 05 ➤ No specific symptoms, but like most others with the virus, developed permanently increased fatigue, and developed a more negative and cynical personality
Person 06 ➤ Developed gluten intolerance that was not present before catching the virus
Person 07 ➤ Became depressed and negative, suddenly finding it hard to relate to ordinary people, and literally dropped out of mainstream society as a result
Person 08 ➤ Complained of reduced emotions
Person 09 ➤ An extremely intelligent scientific and techie person, complained of intellectual atrophy, and his mind going downhill; the precision work he used to do with his hands became clumsy
Person 10 ➤ Experienced a ruptured bowel requiring surgery and was ill with such bowel issues for several years
Person 11 ➤ Previously a bubbly personality, became more stressed at work (lowered stress tolerance), less emotional, less bubbly, less sociable and more fatigued. Developed anxiety disorder requiring psychiatric therapy
Person 12 ➤ An intelligent person with excellent general knowledge, developed mild memory and word recall problems
Person 13 ➤ Developed type 1 diabetes, although this occurred over a decade after catching the virus (note that CVB4 as well as CVB1 are linked to triggering T1D)
Person 14 ➤ Developed some anhedonia, finding he no longer enjoyed the practical home DIY tasks he once always loved doing. These task became too much effort, whereas previously he loved to get involved with them
Person 15 ➤ Had a heart attack with myocarditis around 4 years after catching the virus. A few years later developed depression
Person 16 ➤ A sociable character and with a strong masculine emotional backbone to his personality, but lost much of his personality strength very soon after contracting the virus, and then became uncharacteristically insular and unsociable
Person 17 ➤ Developed hypothyroidism after a few years with the virus, and became more complaining, and more easily irritable after acquiring the virus
Person 18 ➤ Was always a motivated hard worker putting in long hours, but after catching the virus found he did not have enough energy to do his job, so had to change profession to something easier
Person 19 ➤ Needs to sleep with earplugs due to sound sensitivity (hyperacusis)
Person 20 ➤ Died of a respiratory lung infection, possibly caused by the virus, or facilitated by its apparent immunosuppressive effects (but this person was very elderly)
Person 21 ➤ Developed some issues with their ears, which the doctors said was due to catching a nasty virus
Person 22➤ Experienced generally reduced mental health, and needs to sleep with earplugs due to sound sensitivity. An easy going socializer, became a little uncomfortable socializing with friends
Person 23 ➤ Developed recurrent gastritis around eight years after catching this chronic viral infection
Person 24 ➤ Developed significantly reduced emotions after catching the virus (this person said they felt they were become autistic due to the lack of emotions)
Person 25 ➤ Developed chronic generalized anxiety disorder and depression
Person 26 ➤ An energetic, thrusting and positive personality, always doing lots, after catching the virus slowly changed into to a negative person, with generally negative views on the world, and now does very little. Became sound sensitive, and sensitive to information overload (eg, finds it mentally unpleasant when two people are speaking at once). Developed cold hands and feet
Person 27 ➤ A very sociable and outgoing person, suddenly complained of parties and social events being a bit unpleasant due to noise and commotion (sound sensitivity)
Person 28 ➤ Healthy as an ox, with no known health problems, had a sudden and fatal heart attack
Person 29 ➤ Developed some anhedonia, so losing his interest and excitement in activities (suddenly saying "it does not interest me, I've done it before")
Person 30 ➤ Within months of catching the virus suddenly hit with a heart attack, chronic myocarditis, perforated bowel that required emergency surgery, and chronic depression
Person 31 ➤ Had a heart attack soon after catching the virus
Person 32 ➤ Developed glaucoma after a few years with the virus
Person 33 ➤ Developed severe generalized anxiety disorder after catching the virus, and anxiety so bad that this person shut themselves away in their own home, unable to see any visitors due to the extreme mental tension from the anxiety disorder. After a year or two the anxiety improved
Person 34 ➤ On first contracting the virus, had severe body-wide inflammation requiring long term corticosteroids for several months
Person 35 ➤ This child developed autism and ADHD
The above list details the specific diseases and symptoms that appeared in various individuals. A few people not in this list also caught my virus, and also developed some of the general symptoms that my virus would typically cause (symptoms detailed in the next section).
General Permanent Subclinical Symptoms My Virus Precipitated in Most People
The permanent mostly subclinical effects that my enterovirus seemed to have on most people are the following:
• Mildly increased fatigue is common: after catching this enterovirus, previously energetic people would often return home from work, have supper, and then fall asleep exhausted in front of television.
• Some mild anhedonia hits some people (anhedonia is the loss of interest in things once found enjoyable, due to the brain finding life’s activities less rewarding and pleasurable).
• Some mild loss of libido is quite common after catching this virus (less interested in sex).
• A blunted or enfeebled emotional response (known as "blunted affect") is quite common, making relationships and activities less heartfelt.
• Values that previously were important to a person may lose some of their significance and meaning. This might be due to weakened emotions (since values may be to be underpinned by emotion).
• People may become less inclined to socialize, and become more insular: they may loose some of the enjoyment normally derived from friendship and the company of others, and instead of the warmth of friendship, may experience increased irritability with people, or become more cranky or niggly.
• Decreased ability to cope with stress.
• Sound sensitivity (hyperacusis) may appear after a few years with this virus (this is where the brain finds it harder to cope with certain sounds and noises, which seem to get "under the skin").
• "Tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon — the inability to retrieve a word or name from memory during conversation (this is known as anomia). These word recall problems are relatively mild, and tend to appear in most individuals with this virus after a few years. It is interesting that anomia is also a symptom of ME/CFS.
• Memory also seems to become poorer in a few people.
• Mild depression may appear in some people.
• About two-thirds of people will have permanent constant congested nose / post nasal drip with unusually thick mucus once they catch this virus, and around one-third will have a chronic sore throat. These symptoms may remain for over a decade.
• Some partial hearing loss may appear in the elderly; in younger people too, hearing becomes noticeably less acute. Some tinnitus may appear.
• An unusual fine crêpe paper-like skin wrinkling will appear all over the body in more-or-less everyone with this virus who is over 30 years old or so; this symptom manifests more severely in the elderly, but does not seem to manifest in people younger than around 30. Pictures of this skin wrinkling are found on my website.
• Weight gain may appear after a few years with this virus — but mainly only on the abdomen (central obesity).
• A very sudden onset of periodontitis can occur within the first few months with this virus, even in those with previously excellent oral and dental heath. More brown plaque deposits may also appear on the teeth.
• People may get cold hands and feet (lack of blood to the peripheries) manifesting after a few years with this virus.
• A few people get recurrent stomach aches that come back every few weeks or months. This symptom tends to occur more in the early years with the virus, and then disappears later. One infected person developed gastritis years later.
• Mild but permanent odorless flatulence and bloating is very common. This is definitely a long term symptom: it is still be present in people even 15 years after first catching the virus. Since a main reservoir for enterovirus is the intestines, I think the flatulence may be a result of the chronic presence of enterovirus in the bowels.
So you can see that the coxsackievirus B4 I caught had a tendency to cause overt illnesses such as sudden heart attacks, chronic myocarditis, type 1 diabetes and in my case myalgic encephalomyelitis (all of which are known to be linked to coxsackievirus B).
Then there was a high incidence of ruptured bowel (gastrointestinal perforation), glaucoma, hypothyroidism, periodontitis, depression and generalized anxiety disorder appearing soon after the 30+ people caught this virus, but these illnesses have not been linked to coxsackievirus B in published studies (so in future researchers might want to examine whether coxsackievirus B is linked to these conditions).
And in addition, this Coxsackie B4 virus also caused many people to develop permanent subclinical conditions such as mild fatigue, reduced emotions, mild anhedonia, a more negative and cynical personality, loss of libido, sound sensitivity (hyperacusis), lowered stress tolerance, intellectual atrophy, mild worsening of memory and "tip-of-the-tongue" word recall problems, circulation problems (cold hands and feet), chronic sore throat and flatulence.
I was astounded not only by the large amount of overt and subclinical illnesses my virus triggered in friends and family, but also equally astounded that the medical profession have generally not been able to track the variety of ill effects that enteroviruses like coxsackievirus B and echovirus produce as they spread in the community.
Although having said that, I think it's quite hard to make the sort of observations I was able to make, unless you are, like me, intimately situated at the epicenter of spread of a virus. And even then it is hard, because normally you would not know who has caught the virus. But with my particular virus, I was able to track its person-to-person spread relatively easily because of its characteristic symptoms such as the unusual fine crêpe paper-like skin wrinkling, or the chronic sore throat / chronic nasal congestion symptoms. Also it's extremely rapid incubation period of 12 hours made it easier to track.
Further Information
My website describing my virus and its symptoms can be found here: https://chronicsorethroat.wordpress.com
On the subject of diseases precipitated by coxsackievirus B spreading through groups of people, the late Dr John Richardson was a GP who studied ME/CFS and coxsackievirus B for nearly 50 years, and was an keen observationist who would often notice how once coxsackievirus B got into a family unit, it would spread from one family member to the next, causing perhaps ME/CFS in one person, a heart attack in the next, myocarditis in a third, pleurodynia in a fourth, and maybe some mysterious health problems in a fifth.
Few GPs these days make such family-wide observations, which is why I think the great number of illnesses that coxsackievirus B can cause is often not properly recognized.
For further information on Richardson's observations on coxsackievirus B in families, see the chapter "Familial Consequences of Viral Illness" in Dr John Richardson's book Enteroviral and Toxin Mediated Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Other Organ Pathologies.
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