09/30/2026
What if COVID doesn’t just cause a new infection—but also wakes up old ones?
A fascinating new study published in Nature followed 1,154 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and found evidence of reactivation of chronic viruses including Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and HSV-1.
Nearly half of the participants had evidence of at least one chronic virus becoming active during acute COVID.
For Chinese medicine practitioners, there is something strikingly familiar about this idea.
Chinese medicine has long described the concept of latent heat—a pathogenic process that can remain relatively quiet beneath the surface and emerge again when the body's regulatory capacity is challenged.
Of course, latent heat and viral latency are not the same thing. But the parallels raise some fascinating questions about what may be happening when a patient tells us:
“I just haven't been the same since COVID.”
In my newest Acupuncture Neurology article, I break down this recently published research, what scientists found about EBV, CMV and HSV-1 reactivation, its possible relevance to long COVID, and where modern immunology and traditional Chinese medicine offer some surprisingly complementary ways of thinking.
Read the new blog: When an Old Infection Wakes Up: COVID-19, Viral Reactivation, and the Chinese Medicine Concept of Latent Heat
Dr. Ayla Wolf examines a 2026 Nature study of viral reactivation during COVID-19 alongside the Traditional East Asian Medicine concept of latent heat.
