Is weight gain linked to a virus?
An emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wis., has studied the link between the virus Ad-36 and obesity. The professor, Richard Atkinson, researched chickens, mice and marmosets. He found that these animals were fatter after becoming infected with a human adenovirus that usually causes colds, eye infections and diarrhea. Tests found about 30 percent of obese people had been exposed to the virus, compared with 11 percent of non-obese people. The study looked at over 500 people.
