One of the main mechanisms underlying Long COVID pathology is the presence of viral reactivation or awakened dormant pathogens. Virus’s such as Epstein Barr (EBV) and Herpes Virus Type 6 (HHV6/HSV6) are well documented to underlie chronic health conditions such as autoimmune disease and appear to be contributing to the PASC phenomenon.

In this video, Dr Jamie explains the interaction between SARS-COV-2, EBV) and HHV6/HSV6 in addition to possible testing options to confirm the presence of such interaction. 

0:01
Are viruses contributing to your Long COVID situation or vaccine reaction? And this may be more than just SARS-COV-2. So one of the main theories about long COVID is that dormant species such as Epstein Barr, or types of Herpes virus have been reawakened, when we get a SARS-COV-2 infection, this is almost like the immune system was able to keep control of pre-existing things within the body but then becomes overwhelmed with this additional inflammatory infectious trigger, so they can no longer keep under control these things, and then they start to flourish.

0:47
This has started to be reflected in research surrounding Long COVID. What we’ve seen is that people suffering from Long COVID have higher correlations of Epstein Barr, and Herpes type virus. So, in one study, it showed that around 60% of people with Long COVID have had an active infection of Epstein Barr. Another study is shown similarly, around 40% have an active infection of Epstein Barr, and around a 25% of Herpes virus type 6. So it seems to be that these reawakened and other viral species are contributing to the phenomenon of post viral fatigue or Long COVID.

1:36
And this is something that’s been a main theory for post viral fatigue and chronic fatigue for a long time as there is a big viral influence within this. Now what’s been shown in the research is that a lot of these viruses will actually interact with each other in how they impact our body. So Epstein Barr and Herpes virus can actually increase the affinity of SARS-COV-2 to our cells. So what you’ll see is with SARS-COV-2 is it actually it doesn’t bind super well to the ACE-2 receptors on our cells. However, when Epstein Barr is present, especially when Epstein Barr becomes reactivated and we’re starting to see replication of the virus within the cell, that active viral infection causes a modification of the cell and of our ACE-2 receptor. So it will start to become more affinitive for the SARS-COV-2, so it’s more likely and easier for the SARS-COV-2 virus to bind to the receptor and gain entry to the cell.

2:47
So, if we’re seeing Epstein Barr reactivated, that increases the susceptibility to a higher viral load of SARS-COV-2. However, what’s also been shown is that when we have Epstein Barr plus HSV-6, that further increases the affinity for SARS-COV-2 so if we have multiple infections from these other viruses, it increases each time our likelihood of SARS-COV-2 entering the cell. So if we have more of these infections going on it’s easier for SARS-COV-2 to get into the cell, we gain higher loads of the SARS-COV-2 and, therefore, it impacts us more.

3:34
So this is almost like – a good analogy from Aristo Vojdani as being about like the SARS-COV-2 being like an ill fitting glove to begin with. So we might have a glove, and in SARS-COV-2 we might get three fingers within there. But then the fourth is sort of hanging off so it doesn’t quite fit. But with Epstein Barr we get an additional one. And then with HHV6, we get another one. So it starts to become better fitting with more of these viral species present.

4:10
So the next question with this is: okay, so what we know about Epstein Barr and Herpes type 6 virus is that, around 90% of us, by the time we’re elderly have Epstein Barr, and around 90% of us to 100% of us by the age of 3, we have Herpes type 6 virus, but it doesn’t cause us all problems. So, it’s more than just ‘you have Epstein Barr’ – we all have it it’s all in and around our body, but some of us are more affected by these things. So our next question is, you know, why have you got more problems with Epstein Barr or Herpes type virus? And why are you susceptible to Long COVID.

5:01
So, typically, we’ve all got viruses within us – they’re part of our normal surroundings. But it will start to cause more problems when we get higher loads of these things. So if we get a higher load of Epstein Barr, there’s way more of the virus present in the body, that’s really starts to cause us issues. And the main thing we see with this usually is because our immune system is weak for some reason, there’s a reason why the virus is easier for it to come into the body uptake residence and replicate more than another person. And that’s usually because our immune system isn’t doing it’s job efficiently. So in functional medicine, we’re always looking for this why. Why has someone got a higher viral load? And why is their immune system not working? Now, typically, what we’ll find is the main things where it will cause someone’s immune system to not do the job it needs to do is because it’s being suppressed. And one of the most common causes for that is, of course, stress.

6:01
So we know that chronic stress, and chronic increases in cortisol suppress our immune system. And we’ve all seen this, that we’ve got exams coming up, and we’re stressed for a few months working, revising hard, it’s when we take the test and stop stressing that we get sick, right. And that’s often because our cortisol has come down, the body’s immune system has started to wake up and it’s recognised that it’s developed a higher load of bugs and microbes and viruses over this time. So it starts to clean up the system. So stress can really suppress our immune system.

6:38
The other thing that we typically see, is toxins. So toxins play a really substantial role in disrupting how our immune system works. And we’re increasingly seeing the modern world becoming more and more toxic. We’re surrounded by more toxins on a daily basis, we’ve got more stress, which means we don’t detox as well as we should do. Particularly in the UK, we have tonnes of mould problems, we’re getting exposed to mycotoxins, which has been shown to suppress our immune system. So they.. it starts leading us to become more susceptible to picking up more opportunistic, more viral loads in the body, which therefore increases our susceptibility for COVID. Which really begs the question in that, are we seeing more superbugs like SARS-COV-2? Is this actually a very powerful, strong, dangerous bug? And we’re seeing more of these? Or are we actually as a human species becoming more susceptible to bugs, because we’re seeing way more stress in our lifespan, and we’re exposed to way more toxins? Probably a bit of both.

7:55
So what are some things that you can do now? Firstly, is you can do some testing to see if this interaction is happening with you. So what I’ve mentioned in a previous video is there’s a lab called Immunosciences Lab by Dr. Aristo Vojdani. He offers a number of tests, which can show whether you have reactivation of a number of these types of virus which are contributing to inflammation or even autoimmunity. So you can do some testing to confirm if this may be involved in your Long COVID situation. Things that you can do, obviously if we see this, we want to try and decrease the viral load, we want to use some anti-viral so that’s where your doctor, your mainstream doctor, the medical side of things is going to come in, you can use antivirals to try and get hold of that situation. Of course, there’s natural type of antivirals – vitamin C’s a well known one. But also things like ginger, garlic, different types of herbs, basil, oregano, astragalus, turmeric, and many of these herbs have anti high antiviral properties, but it may require something stronger to get you going to begin with. That sort of stuff that we should all be using generally to keep ourselves healthy.

9:24
Another thing is certainly Vitamin D. So Vitamin-D deficiency will really cause our Cytotoxic T cells to not be functioning properly. So that will set you up again for higher viral loads of things. So if our immune system isn’t doing it’s job, because it hasn’t got the Vitamin D to supply our T cells – these are the things that hunt down viruses and get rid of them – then we’re going to start to build up more of a load. And it always surprises me how many people still do not supplement Vitamin D. It’s so established now in the research, it’s cheap to get, you can get now in the UK I think free testing for Vitamin D. So, if you don’t supplement Vitamin D, and you’re still SCEPTICAL, go and get your Vitamin D tested this winter, so you have confirmation on whether you need it or not. Because that’s one of the most powerful things you can do to prevent these types of things happening.

The information in this video is for educational purposes only and, therefore, is not intended to be used to diagnose or substitute medical advice or treatment. You should always consult your medical doctor if you intend to make changes based on this information and you should never disregard medical advice or cease taking medication because of it.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8233978/ – Investigation of Long COVID Prevalence and Its Relationship to Epstein-Barr Virus Reactivation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9504756/ – Epstein–Barr Virus and Human Herpesvirus-6 Reactivation in Acute COVID-19 Patients