From the point of view of my CFS-biased practice, chronic lyme does not exist independent of GRV infection but my practice cohort is heavily biased towards GRV and therefore is not well positioned to prove that chronic lyme can exist without GRV.
On the 23rd of August 2010, a PNAS on-line publication (Lo et al) was published out of the NIH and the FDA confirming Judy Mikovits’ October 2009 Science papers’ assertion that a Mouse Leukemia Virus (MLV)-related retrovirus (RV) is strongly linked to CFS. With an 87% association of this novel RV with CFS, the new study makes the association much tighter with CFS and ever closer to a possible causation claim as we are still using first generation testing and the biology of these RV agents is still poorly understood. The MLV-related human RV reservoir is still unknown and there appears to be only low copy numbers in blood making detection difficult and very methodology dependent. Given that the CFS-related strain reported in PNAS is not related to XMRV, a mouse virus, but rather to another mouse virus (PMRV) from the same family of mouse viruses suggests that a name change is in order to describe this family of novel “human” retroviruses. We propose the name Human Gammaretovirus or GRV’s for short with some agreement from my colleagues around the world.
The issue of redox shifting as well as redox buffering in CFS appears of paramount importance. Cellular energy is critically dependent on redox and reduced energy fluctuations are dependent on proper redox buffering. In addition, many important viruses linked to CFS including herpes group viruses and the newly discovered retrovirus XMRV are likely very sensitive to the redox set point. At optimal redox set points, no viral replication is possible. These two concepts of viral activation and cellular energy as redox dependent makes attention to redox shifting of critical importance in CFS. It appears that certain types of water may be very useful in adjusting the redox state of CFS in a positive direction.
Three family members, mother, son and daughter, all with CFS, were evaluated recently in my clinic. They all became sick in Prague, the Czech Republic, on the mothers sabbatical LOA from her college teaching position after all had a chicken-pox like illness. They are all seven months out from stem cell therapy in Panama. They all have improved significantly following stem cell therapy with the daughter claiming a complete cure after 17 years of illness at the age of 29. She is the second stem cell patient claiming a complete cure and includes an unrelated 23 year old male patient, also 7 months out from stem cells. Both cures took at least 90 days to become manifest with the first thirty days exhibiting significant hypersomnolence and with little energy to do much and typical for all the CFS stem cell patients (N=13).
It appears vaccine contamination risk will be a rising threat as we approach over 50 different vaccinations now recommended in children and now including the increased microbial contamination risk of cell associated vaccine manufacturing. In such vaccination decisions, one has to weigh the risk to benefit ratio of each vaccination including the multi-vaccine vaccinations in a particular individual at one moment in time. The longer view risk to the population of such aggressive vaccination programs is even murkier.
Curcumin is a member of a class of complex biochemicals known as curcuminoids and the principal constituent of the spice known as turmeric and responsible for its yellow color. In turn, turmeric is the principal spice in common yellow curry powder which can contain many spices that vary widely among popular cuisines. Curcumin contains polyphenols that have significant medicinal properties and used historically in southeastern Asia and India and commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine. Turmeric is a perennial herb and member of the ginger family and native to tropical southeast Asia. Heavy curcumin use in India is thought to explain, in part, the low incidence of Alzheimers disease as it is anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant and promotes neurogenesis. It is also anti-bacterial and anti-viral as well as having anti-cancer properties and heavy metal chelation properties, especially iron.
Before we learned that Artesunate might inhibit XMRV via NF Kappa B inhibition in August of 2009, we were aware that Artesunate was a known inhibitor of all known human herpes viruses against which it has been tested as well as HIV. I was first introduced to Artesunate by a prominent Autism expert at a medical conference who finds it helpful in Autism. We were also impressed that Artesunate and its relative Wormwood, using SL administration on the echo table, produced the most powerful ablation of oxygen toxicity as well as the ablation of other echo terrain map (ETM) backflashes than any other therapy we have ever used. Both Artesunate and Wormwood will do this in 30 seconds.
Below is an interesting link to a thorough discussion on gammaretroviruses and the related human endogenous retroviruses ERV’s of which there are 2,000 ERV genes located on a single human chromosome. There are thousands of ERV’s spread across the entire human DNA grouped into 24 families. XMRV has 95% homology with human ERV’s. What is very interesting about ERV’s and likely true for XMRV is that they are TH1 immunosuppressive which is believed to be critical in the ability to get pregnant as the mother needs to be Th1 immunosuppressed to avoid rejection of the implanted fetus. The hormones of pregnancy and especially progesterone are in part responsible for activating env proteins of ERV’s which apparently are largely responsible for this immunosuppression. It is likely that progesterone activates XMRV env protein and may explain why we see women with more CFS at 4 to 1 over men and the apparent vulnerability of adolescent girls to CFS onset and the relative reduction of the point prevalence of CFS in the elderly and in children compared to the young to middle ages. I have also observed a reduction in severity of CFS symptoms in post-menopausal women though perhaps modulated by their use of HRT. The related hormones to progesterone are pregnenolone and cortisol. I have seen both devastate a handful of CFS cases.
Current testing, primarily by VIP Dx in Reno, gives three results. 1) Serum RT-PCR for viral RNA 2) Whole blood PCR for viral DNA and 3) Culture of human blood white cells which amplifies the infection to see it better and the most sensitive of the three tests, the most labor intensive and the most costly. Coming soon will be antibody testing including 4) IgG against common viral proteins and 5) Western blot (WB) which looks at the entire pattern of viral protein antibody expression which are present and considered the gold standard for confirming any direct detection of virus by PCR or RT-PCR testing which is subject to false positives. When IgG ELISA testing is available, there will likely be a contraction of standard testing to just serum RT-PCR and whole blood PCR and IgG if positive to confirm and perhaps IgG if negative to confirm any past infection which, of course in a retrovirus, is permanent infection of your DNA. There are other issues involving infectiousness and viral latency that are peculiar to retroviruses. Below is a fuller explanation.
It is my sense that infectious RV’s and possibly Herpes Group viruses are universal “test” agents for cells they infect to see if they can buffer their redox state in the case of either an externally induced redox shift to a more oxidizing environment or internally produced by the viruses themselves as they have the machinery to do it. If they can overwhelm the redox buffer, they replicate rapidly and kill the cells which lytically explode releasing virions to try again in other cells. If you cannot control the redox buffer systemically, you die because such loss of buffer threatens the DNA and the species with it. Therefore, these endogenous viruses are the wolves culling out the weak sheep in the flock of humans who in turn face external environmental challenges that threaten their redox balance. By this method, these endogenous viruses and especially RV’s direct human evolution to some unknown end but they only allow the subset of humans who can properly defend their redox state to survive or procreate.