Practical Practitioner
By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE
Obesity virus now linked to humans
Dear Pam,
I have been thin my whole life, up until two years ago. I have tried multiple diets, exercise, to no avail. I feel like I have a disease causing weight gain rather than weight loss.
It is funny that you bring this up. While reading about cancer viruses, I stumbled across an article published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the obesity virus.
Yes, it’s true! A virus known to cause obesity in animals has been tied to weight problems in humans, raising the possibility that some people “catch” obesity and that, in some cases, it could be an infectious disease.
The preliminary study found that 15 percent of obese people have antibodies to the virus, indicating they were exposed to it, but that no people of average weight did. It is one of the most significant findings in the obesity field in years, and it opens a new area of research and potential treatment.
People are struggling with why this enormous increase in obesity has occurred, because diet, sedentary lifestyles, genetic predispositions and metabolism problems don’t explain the whole trend.
Here we have the possibility that obesity is a viral disease which may give people ammunition to fight for insurance coverage for weight-loss treatment because they could argue “I’ve got a reason. I’m not just a fat slob.”
Professor Richard Atkinson, an endocrinologist and nationally known obesity expert, said that the notion of obesity as an infectious disease is unconventional, he added that fifteen years ago if you said ulcers were due to bacteria, people would have said you were nuts, and yet that’s now known to be the case.
Before now, five animal viruses were known to cause obesity in animals, but no human virus had been implicated. The study involved adenovirus 36, or AD-36. There are more than 50 adenoviruses, including many that cause the common cold. They’re transmitted through the air and person to person contact.
The research was done in two parts. First, lab animal were injected with AD-36 to test the theory that it could cause obesity.
Animals became fat and surprisingly have low cholesterol and triglycerides, the opposite of what you’d expect to find. Next they tested, 199 people – 154 obese and 45 lean – for antibodies. About 15 percent of the obese people had the antibodies, but none of the people of average weight did.
What’s interesting is the telltale sign of AD-36 infection was below normal blood cholesterol levels. According to Dr. Robert Beck, electro-medicine is an alternative treatment to cure overweight caused by the adeno-virus Ad-36. Reportedly, previously obese, Beck lost 145 pounds in a few months by getting rid of the obesity virus. Unfortunately, electro-medicine is not proven or approved by the FDA.
This article was originally published April 22, 2002 in The St. Tammany News.
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