Can you catch Obesity?

You aren't fat, it's just a tubby bug.....
The Obesity Virus? RESEARCHERS SUGGEST VIRAL INFECTION MAY CAUSE OBESITY
Nick Kolakowski
Could obesity be due, at least in part, to a viral infection? The idea may seem farfetched, but then so was the idea that peptic ulcers are caused by bacterial infection.
A group of researchers have implicated the adenovirus Ad36—one of a family of about 50 viruses that cause colds, upper respiratory infections, gastrointestinal problems, and eye inflammations—in the development of obesity in humans and other animals.
At least six pathogens are suspected of causing obesity in animals, including canine distemper virus, an avian retrovirus, Borna disease virus in rats, and the scrapie agent in mice and hamsters.1
In 1992, Nihil V. Dhurandhar, PhD, then at the University of Bombay, India, reported on the avian adenovirus SMAM-1, which caused excessive intra-abdominal fat deposition and paradoxically low serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in chickens.2 Antibodies against SMAM-1 virus were found in 10 of 52 humans with obesity screened in Bombay. Those people with antibodies had a significantly higher body weight and body mass index (BMI).3
According to Richard Atkinson, emeritus professor of medicine and nutrition at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, animals infected with the Ad36 virus have a 50% to 100% gain in body fat. When Atkinson, Dhurandhar, and colleagues screened humans for specific Ad36 antibodies, they found that around 30% of the people with obesity had the antibodies, compared with 10% of the normal-weight people.
"We can't say that the virus caused obesity in all those people," Atkinson says. "It's still speculation, some say a gross speculation." Yet the research and its implications have led him to set up the Richmond, Va.–based Obetech Obesity Research Center, where people can pay for testing to see if their extra pounds are caused by pizza or pathogen.
ONGOING RESEARCH
Because of restrictions on human testing, Atkinson, Dhurandhar—now at Wayne State University in Detroit—and colleagues have limited research to mice and monkeys. Studies show that animals inoculated with the virus gain weight even as their food intake remains the same. Research also suggests that Ad36 is transmissible from animal to animal.
"Our animal experiments showed that the virus could be passed from one infected animal to its cage-mate within 12 hours of infection," Dhurandhar says. "Also, blood from the infected animal, injected in the veins of a fresh set of animals, transmitted the virus and obesity."
If a virus is involved at all in the development of obesity, no one is suggesting it is the sole cause. Obesity is the result of a number of factors, some genetically based and others that are environmental.
Other researchers think that the virus isn't much of a factor in the nation's expanding waistlines. Cardiologist Thomas Kottke, MD, of Regions Hospital Heart Center in St. Paul, Minn., says that trying to blame the obesity epidemic on a virus is avoiding reality. "It's like saying, `I don't need to quit smoking because by the time I get lung cancer there'll be a cure,'" he says. "And there's no cure, and it kills 85% of the time."
Instead, Kottke believes the answer to the obesity epidemic is right in front of us: people are consuming more calories than they're using. "We don't have to get off our butts to change the channel, the cost of food is at record lows, and there are cities all over that are impossible to walk in."
Other doctors and researchers give the idea of an obesity virus slightly more credibility. "It is a possibility that some people might be affected by a virus," says F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, MD, director of the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. "You've got to postulate that somehow [the virus] is getting into the brain and affecting the brain centers and somehow affecting appetite."
The possible role of Ad36 "is an interesting observation, but I would not give high priority to these problems," says Pi-Sunyer. "I think the main cause of our obesity problem is that we eat too much."
TESTING AND IMPLICATIONS
Atkinson thinks Obetech's test for Ad36 antibodies will be important for people suffering from overweight or obesity. "Obese people really suffer an immense amount of discrimination, they're told they're lazy and that it's a character flaw," he says. "If it's a virus, that puts a whole new spin on things. They'd feel a whole lot better."
"But the more important use of this test will be for skinny people," Atkinson continues. "If you're skinny and your test is positive, it means you have a good chance of becoming obese due to this virus. It's easier to prevent obesity than to change or reverse it." Atkinson's hope is that more people will eventually "want to know their obesity virus status."
In the long term, the identification of a virus responsible for some incidence of obesity may lead to more clinically relevant screening tests, perhaps a vaccine or antiviral therapy, and a greater acceptance of obesity as a disease.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obesity Virus: More, Bigger Fat Cells
Common Virus Boosts Fat-Cell Production -- and Makes Fat Cells Fatter
By Daniel J. DeNoonWebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Aug. 20, 2007 – Infection with a virus linked to human obesity ups fat-cell production and makes fat cells fatter.
"Infectobesity" is the term coined by Louisiana State University researcher Nikhil Dhurandhar, PhD, and colleagues to describe the phenomenon. Their research strongly links a common human virus -- adenovirus-36 or Ad-36 -- to human obesity.
Previous research showed that nearly 30% of obese people, but only 11% of lean people, have been infected with Ad-36. Monkeys experimentally infected with Ad-36 gain significant weight.
Now Dhurandhar's team finds evidence that Ad-36 has a direct effect on human fat cells. Infection of adult stem cells from human fat triggers their transition into pre-fat cells. And these virus-infected cells hold much more fat than normal pre-fat cells.
The end result: more, fatter fat cells.
Dhurandhar colleague Magdalena Pasarica, MD, PhD, presented the findings at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, held Aug. 19-23 in Boston.
"We're not saying that a virus is the only cause of obesity, but this study provides stronger evidence that some obesity cases may involve viral infections," Pasarica says in a news release. "We would ultimately like to identify the underlying factors that predispose some obese people to [the effects of] this virus and eventually find a way to treat it."
It's not entirely clear how the virus acts on fat stem cells. But Pasarica reported a major clue: One specific Ad-36 gene, called E4Orfl, is responsible for the virus's obesity-related effects.
The researchers are now trying to figure out why some people seem to become obese after Ad-36 infection while others don't.
There are some 50 adenovirus strains. Various strains cause some 5% of respiratory infections every year, ranging from mild colds to serious pneumonia. Some of these viruses also cause eye infections. Ad-36 was originally isolated from a German girl with diabetes; however, it has not been linked to any specific disease.
A vaccine, used by the military, can prevent some types of adenovirus infection. However, the adenovirus strains used in this vaccine are very different from the Ad-36 strain.
Dhurandhar first became interested in obesity-related viruses while working in India. There he investigated a peculiar phenomenon: Chickens infected with a deadly avian adenovirus became fatter, not thinner, before they died.
When Dhurandhar moved to the U.S. to pursue his studies, he found that agriculture authorities were not going to allow him to import the chicken virus. So he began looking for human adenovirus strains that might have the same effect. That led to the discovery of the obesity-related effects of Ad-36.
Interestingly, other researchers have implicated another human adenovirus -- Ad-37 -- in human obesity.
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A closer look at the blood tests conducted on over 2000 Australians has showed that more than 20% of the study participants had contracted Ad-36 viral infection , believed to play a major role in development of obesity.
Richard Emeritus, Professor of Medicine, University of Wisconsin has carried out the research. 'I believe obesity is a complex disease of many causes, one of which is viral infection,' said the professor. He further stated that the presence of the infection in obese people could account for the obesity epidemic. Previous studies had already established an association between exposure to the virus and obesity in animal models, more specifically, mice, chickens and marmosets. However, another similar study conducted by Nick Martin, a professor at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research failed to establish a definitive association between body mass index and Ad-36 infection. Ad-36, belongs to a class of viruses referred to as adenovirus. The virus is known to be associated with eye infections, diarrhea and common cold, in humans. More studies are clearly indicated to establish the link, if any between obesity and Ad-36 virus.
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PEOPLE can catch a bug which makes them obese, claim scientists.
The virus is picked up from a sneeze, a cough or dirty hands like a cold.
The new research supports earlier theories from studies on weight gain.

Weight off some people's minds ... claim by scientists
Evidence in tests on mice and chickens shows the bug could cause tubbies to pile on the pounds.
In one test a THIRD of obese people had the rare and highly contagious virus compared to just 11 PER CENT of thinner people.
US Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar said the virus, known as AD-36, goes to the lungs then whisks around the body.
It forces fat cells to multiply and also causes sore throats.
He said: “When this virus goes to fat tissue it replicates ... which may explain why people get fat when infected.”
Weight gain can last three months until the body has built up resistance to the bug.
But Prof Dhurandhar of Louisiana, US, tells BBC2’s Horizon tonight: “People could be fat for reasons other than viral infections, so it’s pointless for fat people to try to avoid infection.”
The programme also reveals research claiming dieters always feel hungry because humans have a “natural body weight” and they will always suffer hunger pangs
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Obesity 'Virus' Spreads Like Common Cold, Scientists Say
Monday , January 26, 2009

Obesity can be "caught" as easily as a common cold from other people's coughs, sneezes and dirty hands, scientists said Monday.
The condition has been linked to a highly-infectious virus which causes sniffles and sore throats.
Nikhil Dhurandhar, an associate professor at The Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, La., said the virus, known as AD-36, infects the lungs then whisks around the body, forcing fat cells to multiply and also causing sore throats.
"When this virus goes to fat tissue it replicates, making more copies of itself and in the process increases the number of new fat cells, which may explain why the fat tissue expands and why people get fat when they are infected with this virus," Dhurandhar said.
In one test, a third of obese people had the rare and highly contagious virus compared to just 11 percent of thinner people. Weight gain can last three months until the body has built up resistance to the bug.
New research supports earlier theories from studies on weight gain; evidence in tests on mice and chickens shows the bug could cause overweight people to gain weight.
"People could be fat for reasons other than viral infections, so it’s pointless for fat people to try to avoid infection," said Dhurandhar.
The study also reveals research claiming dieters always feel hungry because humans have a "natural body weight" and they will always suffer hunger pangs.