Did you know that viruses can play a big role in ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? They can. Many people who get so sick with the symptoms of ME/CFS may not realize that a viral-related cause could be at play. And no matter whether you have sudden onset or gradual onset of the illness, if your immune system is not performing in an optimal manner, you could fall victim to the effects of such really troublesome viruses.

Take my health, for instance, when I got sick in 1990. I had so many viruses that my doctor quit testing me, quit counting the viruses and told me to go home to bed! Well that was twenty-three years ago when little to no helpful medicines were available and even less research. Only now are physicians learning more about the interaction between two specific, problem viruses that could be causing you big problems: Cytomegalovirus and HHV-6, Human Herpes Virus-6 and tag-along, HHV-7.

Today, I find it so exciting is that a new medicine, Cidofovir or HPMPC/ Vistide is indicating that a a huge improvement is possible in such patients who have these viruses. That is wonderful news because they are fairly common, they’re tough to get rid of and they can make you feel like a Mack truck just ran over you!!

This is exciting to me and surely for so many other folks with viral-related illnesses. Thank you for joining me today for the Health Matters Show today. Continue listening and reading to get more of this potentially explosive information.

Cinda Crawford, your host

(Today’s audio podcast is 9 minutes.)

See the following information is a summary of the from the 8th International Conference on HHV-6 & 7 on April 8-10, 2013 in Paris, France, as reported by the HHV-6 Foundation. (However, you can get a copy of the entire 119 page report by clicking on the link above.)

Treatments

Therapeutic potential of cidofovir (HPMPC, VISTIDE) for the treatment of HHV-6 and/or CMV infections in severely ill patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis

Gunnar Gottschalk, Isabel Barao, Daniel Peterson; Sierra Internal Medicine, Incline Village, NV, USA; University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA

Objective: Herpesvirus infections and natural killer (NK) cell dysfunction may be important in the pathogenesis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in a subset of patients. Cidofovir has broadspectrum activity against many DNA viruses including the Beta-herpesviruses human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). In this study, we proposed: 1) to determine the effect of cidofovir treatment on physical and cognitive functioning and NK cell function in CFS/ME patients with laboratory results suggestive of HHV-6 and HCMV infections; and 2) to evaluate the tolerability and safety of Cidofovir treatment.

Methods: From January 2005 to December 2012, we prospectively evaluated 65 severely ill CFS/ME patients who underwent Cidofovir treatment (intravenous; 5mg/Kg, every other week) in our clinic. Patients were tested for exercise tolerance (time on treadmill and oxygen consumption – VO2 Max) and signs of possible herpesvirus infection in blood via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigenemia assays, before and after treatment. NK cell function was determined by a NK cell lytic unit (LU30) assay. The tolerability of Cidofovir was assessed by standard blood chemistry tests.

Results: 46/65 (70%) patients had a partial or full response to treatment. Of this group 27/46 (56%) presented with a full response to treatment and were able to return to work and/or daily activities. Increases in VO2 and in NK cell function were observed. There were 6/65 (9%) patients who stopped taking the drug due to adverse events, 5/65 (8%) patients who were “lost to follow up,†and 8/65 individuals (12%) who were non-responders to the drug. In general, Cidofovir was well tolerated.

Conclusions: An expanded study is indicated to confirm these initial results and explore new combination therapies for the treatment of this subset of patients diagnosed with CFS/ME.

NOW….PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH YOUR FRIENDS!