An Evansville physician suspects the chronic pain of diseases like fibromyalgia could be caused by a series of viruses.

Pain specialist Dr. David Johnson realized the fatigue, aches and chills many of his patients describe are the same symptoms that come with a case of the flu. So he had an idea: What if he tested them for some common viruses? “I went through and listed about three or four viruses, and didn’t even know if the labs could test for them, and my gosh, they came back positive.”

He eventually came up with list of 17 viruses and found that his fibromyalgia patients were all testing positive for anywhere from three to nine viruses each. Dr. Johnson believes their immune systems aren’t recognizing the viruses as pathogens and as they steal cell material to replicate, the patient is left with a host of ailments. He’s prescribing anti-viral medications to try to suppress the viruses, which can take years.

Dr. Johnson outlined a list of the viruses he’s testing for in fibromyalgia cases:

*Epstein Barr virus EBV
*Cytomegalovirus CMV
*Herpes virus: 8 types
*Parvovirus B 19
Norwalk agent
*Rotavirus
*Enteric Coronavirus
*Enterovirus
Astrovirus
Calcivirus
*Varicella – Zoster virus VZV
Torovirus
*Adenovirus
Picovirus
Pogosta virus
Sindbis virus
*Coxsackie A and B virus

*The most frequently involved virses. Most patients will have from three to nine of these viruses at abnormal levels.

For more information on Dr. Johnson’s research, contact his office at 812-425-2662.

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