AD-36 is one of 51 types of adenoviruses known to infect humans. It was first shown to be associated with human obesity by Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar. There has been a positive correlation between body fat and the presence of AD-36 antibodies in the blood. Previous research showed that chicken or monkeys injected with similar types of viruses show a rapid weight gain.

A 2.5 fold increase in fat storage was not uncommon, among the test subjects. There is, however, a distinctive signature of the viral weight gain, in addition to the obvious anti-bodies that can now be tested for, the weight gain is unusual in that lipids, triglycerides, and cholesterol are markedly absent, or at least very low, in the blood of the victim. This is distinct from normal obesity, where these chemicals are usually found in the blood in abundance, as a natural tendency in the cause and effect chain. Currently, no one knows where these chemicals are going, but the current hypothesis is that they are being stored within cells, instead of excreted via the blood stream.

References

External links

• "Can a virus make you fat?" at BBC News
• "Contagious obesity? Identifying the human adenoviruses that may make us fat" at Science Blog