Does Fever or Myalgia Indicate Reduced Physical Performance Capacity in Viral Infections?

Abstract

To study prospectively the effects of a brief febrile viral infection on parameters of muscle and circulatory function, seven volunteers were inoculated with sandfly fever virus and two control subjects with sterile saline. During but not after fever, decreased isometric and dynamic strength and endurance were recorded in various muscles. Impairment could not be explained by altered activities of relevant muscle enzymes in serum or muscle tissue or by altered muscle ultrastructure, but correlated with the severity of perceived symptoms, including myalgia, as rated by each subject. Compared to baseline, cardiac stroke volume was lower during and after fever. During fever, an increased heart rate maintained cardiac output at pre-inoculation values, whereas cardiac output fell in early convalescence. This decrease in cardiac output correlated significantly with the severity of fever. Thus, in brief viral infections a transient impairment of muscle performance capacity is correlated to subjective symptoms such as myalgia, rather than to fever, whereas a decreased cardiac output following such infections seems to be associated with the fever reaction.