Potential Animal (Zoonotic) Virus Identified in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy
5/31/2006 12:00:00 PM
To: National Desk
NEEDHAM, Mass., May 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Recent independent scientific research funded by the National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. (NCF) of Needham, MA provided preliminary confirmation of a new virus identified in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Foundation's medical research dovetails with that completed to date by Cryptic Afflictions, LLC (1), a private company.
Dr. Steven J. Robbins, virologist and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Afflictions, LLC has discovered a major neuropathogen identified as an RNA virus designated as Cryptovirus. Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause.
According to the company, "This previously undetected virus appears to be of significant importance to researchers looking for a cure to Multiple Sclerosis and many other neurological illnesses. Antibodies to the newly discovered virus were found in the cerebrospinal fluid and blood of over 90 percent of the patients tested with Multiple Sclerosis. It is believed that this newly discovered virus may prove to be responsible for a host of neurological disorders. Tests are currently being prepared for tissue samples of lesions within the brains of patients with Multiple Sclerosis. This will be the final round of tests before approaching the FDA for approval of the diagnostic tests."
Dr. Robbins' evidence includes the presence of virus-specific antibodies in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients suffering from these disorders, the ability of the virus to cause virtually identical disease in experimentally-infected animals, and nucleotide sequence data that indicates that the virus is pandemic and represents a single virus species much like measles.
A recently published medical journal article suggests that Cryptovirus is most similiar to Parainfluenza Virus-5, a rubulavirus in the paramyxovirus family. Another rubulavirus related to Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus 5, that has gained national attention for its large outbreak, is the mumps virus. Rubulavirus infections have been associated with encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, spontaneous abortion, and deafness.
The NCF has conducted its own preliminary research into the potential role of Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus-5 in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Professor Alan Cocchetto, Medical Director for the Foundation stated, "Our own funded research first confirmed the lack of a vital protein, known as Stat-1, in the blood of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Stat-1 plays an indispensable role in immunity. Without this protein, patients are unable to effectively fight viral and bacterial infections. Thus, the next logical question to be answered was 'Could a virus be causing this Stat-1 depletion?' " Cocchetto continued, "Parainfluenza Virus-5 is a virus that had to be seriously considered as a possible piece of this medical puzzle because it directly targets and destroys the Stat-1 protein." Gail Kansky, President of the NCF stated, "Once we determined the status of Stat-1 in patient blood samples, we knew that we had to look for possible evidence of Parainfluenza Virus-5 infection. It was during this phase of our own research that we actually learned of Dr. Steven Robbins' discovery of Cryptovirus specific antibody reactivity in patients with CFS." Dr. Robbins had tested fifty- six serum specimens from patients who had been diagnosed with CFS along with eleven matching cerebrospinal fluid samples obtained from physicians in Brisbane and Southeast Queensland. Dr. Robbins had determined that 96 percent of the blood samples and 91 percent of the spinal fluid samples tested positively for Cryptovirus specific antibodies in these CFS patients.
The National CFIDS Foundation's own research began to dovetail with that of Dr. Robbins. Scientists funded by the Foundation performed numerous tests for Parainfluenza Virus-5 that included antibody as well as PCR specific probes. Antibody testing provided some initial hints, however a PCR specific probe picked up the infection in a former patient of David S. Bell, M.D. and Paul R. Cheney, Ph.D., M.D., both considered well known specialists in the field of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Kansky commented, "Though our funded research continues in diagnostic testing, our findings have served to highlight the important work of Dr. Robbins and the role of Cryptovirus and Parainfluenza Virus-5 infection in CFS."
NCF scientists utilized the NIH Genbank database to find the nucleotide sequence for a specific viral protein of Cryptovirus that matched 100 percent to the porcine (swine) strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 known as the SER strain.
In 1994, scientists at Bayer AG in Germany first isolated the SER strain from swine with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome. "This may represent a zoonotic process since zoonotic viruses are those that can be transmitted between animals and people" stated Cocchetto. Kansky commented, "Here we have what appears to be the same viral strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 on two continents and in two different populations, swine and humans. Given that the NCF found Parainfluenza Virus-5 in one CFS patient in the United States certainly raises the bar." The Foundation is currently funding further research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has several ongoing grants in the Parainfluenza Virus-5 field. Currently, however, there is only one U.S. scientist specifically funded for research on the SER strain of Parainfluenza Virus-5 by the NIH.
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Posts: 805 | From Utopia | Registered: Feb 2006
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Now the question remains -- how is the virus spread from pigs to humans -- thru the air or by a fly or tick or by some other means?
Hope the test can be developed quickly.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
Its good news if the RNA hasnt been used by a wondering spirochete and incorperated.
Remember how many "granular" "cyst" and "bleb" form were found in MS patients clear back in 1954? 1954 Morphology of spirochaeta myelophthora in multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neuropathology, 13:221-29. "Four cases of multiple sclerosis, including the case to be reported, elicited abundant numbers of specific spirochetes in the central nervous system to warrant the publication of this paper. ...Morphology and Polymorphism of Spirochaeta Myelophthora: Loops, incomplete, nearly complete or totally complete rings are occasionally seen... The limited polymorphism of micro-organisms is nothing unusual in microbiology. Especially in old cultures or in chemically and antibiotically treated cases micro-organisms very often exhibit bizarre forms. ...Classification: ...What can be said now, with all reservation, is that the spirocheta myelophthora, taken from its morphological appearance in fixed central nervous system tissues, seems to belong to the genus borrelia of the spirochaetales, family of Treponemataceae. ...Reproduction: ...In multiple sclerosis, as in other chronic spirochetal infectious diseases, there is no continuous reproductive activity of the organisms. Their propagation may occur at regular or irregular intervals of time. ...The first fact is the presence of enormous masses of extracellular and intracellular argyrophilic granular bodies in recent plaques of multiple sclerosis. This is nothing unusual in comparison with other acute or chronic spirochetal diseases, such as relapsing fever and syphilis... If the granular bodies in multiple sclerosis are developing from broken-up spirochetes, and there is much evidence for it, the possibility of previous presence of countless numbers of actively multiplying spirochetes in the tissues is not far fetched. ...Transformation: There is a definite sequence of events in the disintegration of the spirochaeta myelophthora. Breaking-up starts with the appearance of loops, rings (fig. 2d), knobs, (fig. 1r, s, t), partial thickening and the formation of granules of different sizes ....Two chronological sequences may be established: a first phase is the extracellular location of intact, active and probably motile spirochetes, followed by a second phase of extracellular disintegration in granular form. The intracellular ingestion of spirochetal debris seems to be a later phase of the pathological process. ..."
some more:
Spirochaeta Myelophthora in Multiple Sclerosis from
Cell Wall Deficient Forms: Stealth Pathogens 2nd Edition by
Lida Mattman, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan Present Address: Spirotech Institute, Empire State Bldg., 350 Fifth Ave.. Suite 6101, New York, NY 10118 ---- CRC Press, Boca Raton, Boston, London, New York, Washington D.C., 1993
Summary (by Joachim Gruber) Research dates back to the beginning of 20th century.
Dr. L.H. Mattman is currently doing research on this subject.
Culture studies showed 59 of 75 patients culture positive, 28 controls negative (Ichelson 1958), 5 of 27 patients culture positive, 13 controls negative (Newman et al 1958), 3 of 7 patients culture positive, 21 control negative (Myerson et al 1958).
Research raising questions followed in 1959, 1960 and 1962.
Postulate by Gay and collaborators: An oral spirochete is the agent of MS, has crossed the barrier between the sphenoidal sinus and subarachnoid space at an age when this barrier is thin (Gay et al 1986 - Gay et al 1991).
Experimental problems might explain discrepancies in findings, e.g. pleomorphism of and difficulty in culturing the organism.
Spirochete-like bacteria from autopsy material reacted with sera from over 50 MS cases (Ibrahim 1986).
Research at L-Form Laboratory, Dept. of Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan by P. Hoekstra, C. Hussar, R. Johnson, C Kodner, H. Parikh, G. Riviere, H. Rossmoore, Lukehart et al 1985, Riviere et al 1991: Growth of borrelia-like organism from MS spinal fluids, from approximately 90 % of MS bloods and from some patients who do not have MS . (note: some studies were done with autoclaved components):
References von Simons, H.C.R., Is multiple sclerosis a spirochetosis?, Deutsche Med. Wochenschr., 83, 1196-1200, 1958. Steiner, G., Acute plaques in MS, their pathogetic significance and the role of spirochetes as the etiological factor, J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol., 11(4) 343, 1952.
Steiner, G., Morphology of Spirochaeta myelophthora in MS, J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol., 13, 221-229, 1954.
Ibrahim, M.Z.M., On the etiology of M: new observations? Abstr. Anat. Rec., 214A, 58, 1986.
Ichelson, R.R., The cultivation of spirochaetes from spinal fluids of multiple sclerosis cases and negative controls, Proc. Penn. Acad. Sci., 32, 49-54, 1958.
Lukehart S.a. et al., Characterization of monoclonal antibodies to Treponema pallidum, J. Immun., 134, 585-592, 1985.
Myerson, R.M. et al., Preliminary observations on the cultivation and morphology of a microorganism from the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis, Am. J. Multiple Sclerosis, 236, 677-691, 1958.
Newman H.W. et al., The spirochete in multiple sclerosis, Calif. Med., 89, 387-389, 1958.
Gay, D. and Dick, G., Is multiple sclerosis cause by an oral spirochete? Lancet, July 12, 75-77, 1986.
Gay, D. and Dick, G., Spirochaetes, Lyme disease and multiple sclerosis, Lancet, September 20, 685, 1986.
Gay, D. and Esiri, M., Blood-brain barrier damage in acute multiple sclerosis plaques. An immunocytological study, Brain, 114 (Pt 1B), 557-572, 1991.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of related interest: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Bacteria linked to MS, by Bill Snyder / Tennessean Staff Writer. Discussion on "Bacteria linked to MS", posted in sci.med.diseases.lyme. Tom Grier in the January 1998 issue of LimeSig on L.H. Mattman's research. Kim Weber, Researcher reveals possible Lyme & Multiple Sclerosis connection, Tick Talk - May/June 1997. Controversies in neuroborreliosis by Audrey Stein Goldings, M.D. in: Lyme Disease Conference, October 23, 1992. Autoimmune Illnesses by Garth L. Nicolson, The Institute for Molecular Medicine, 15162 Triton Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92649, USA.
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