Viral obesity

[mdlbear]

Scientists Say Common Virus Could Cause Obesity

The study showed that Ad-36 caused fat accumulation in animals infected with the virus. The research team then carried out an epidemiological study that showed 30 per cent of obese people were infected with Ad-36, compared with only 11 per cent of lean people.

It was not until this latest study that they were able to show how the virus actually increases fat in humans, according to the researchers.

The research team has also identified a gene in the Ad-36 virus, called E4Orfl, that seems to play a key role in switching on the fat accumulation process in infected animals. The gene could be a target for a range of human therapies, including vaccines and anti-virals, to treat obesity, said Pasarica.

Apart from discovering that stem cells turn into fat cells in the presence of this gene, the scientists know little else about the virus, and they don't rule out the possibility that other viruses could have similar effects, creating a picture of obesity as being a complex disease involving different viruses.

Comments

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Gosh. So you mean I'm not only lazy, unattractive, slovenly and possibly contagious, now I have a disease for which there might not be a cure? Way-hey! :-/

[mdlbear]

As long as it's incurable we're good for sympathy and a valid excuse. It's when some cases are curable and others aren't that we'll start having problems.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

I saw something on Discovery Health about a woman who was very thin, and suddenly started gaining weight, despite eating nothing but vegetables in a desperate attempt to try to stop her weight gain. No one believed she wasn't pigging out. But she kept gaining weight. Finally some doctor identified it as a particular disease, whose name currently escapes me.

Sounds suspiciously like this. Makes you wonder about about where people gain weight for no known reason...hmmm, she says...

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

As our very own Mike Luckovich noted in today's AJC editorial cartoon, one possible side benefit of this development is people being able to call in fat to work. :-)

[mdlbear]

I like that!