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Staph vaccine to treat CFS??

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Some Notes of Mercury in Vaccines

Note that the mercury used as a preservative in vaccines is ethylmercury (aka: thiomersal, or thimerosal), which is not known to bioaccumulate, so this form of mercury this will not increase your total body load of bioaccumulated mercury.

The reason ethylmercury is being removed from vaccines is because a lot of parents with autistic kids put pressure on governments to do so — even though there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that ethylmercury causes autism.

The form of mercury that you find in tuna fish, methylmercury, does bioaccumulate (and so anyone concerned about mercury build-up in their body may want to avoid eating tuna fish regularly).

In a vaccine, you get around 10 to 25 micrograms of ethylmercury, which as stated does not bioaccumulate. But in a can of tuna, you will get around 40 micrograms of the methylmercury, which does bioaccumulate.

Eating tuna once a month would thus be far worse that having a once monthly vaccine injection.

So it seems to me that the banning of the Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine by in Sweden, due to concerns about mercury bioaccumulation, was not really warranted. Perhaps somebody needs to write to the Swedish government.



Home Made Staphylococcus Toxoid Vaccine

One thing I was looking at some time ago was making my own Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine.

You can buy Staphylococcus alpha toxin from a number of suppliers.

You would also need to know the exact dosage of alpha toxin to put into each of the injections you make up yourself. I am not sure of how much alpha toxin goes into each injection of Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine.

Some sellers of alpha toxin are here:

Biological Laboratories, Inc
α-Hemolysin from Staphylococcus aureus lyophilized powder
alpha-Toxin, Staphylococcus aureus | CAS 12616-52-3 | Calbiochem
TOXIN, α HEMOLYSIN (02158522) - MP Biomedicals

Though I would only want to make my own Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine if I could get advice from someone knowledgable about alpha toxin, and knowledgable about the right dosage.


Also, and this is very important: the alpha toxin used in toxoid vaccines is deactivated using formaldehyde, so that it does not have a toxic effect when injected into the body. Formaldehyde is used to deactivate toxins, converting them into toxoids (toxins are called "toxoids" once they are deactivated).

If you missed out this vital step of weakening the alpha toxin into a toxoid using formaldehyde, administering it would have very nasty effects, and quite possibly fatal results.
 
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Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824

I don't think it is the same thing, unfortunately. I just looked up the word bacterin, and this is defined as "a suspension of killed or attenuated bacteria for use as a vaccine."

So that veterinary vaccine will contain Staphylococcus bacteria, but probably not the Staphylococcus alpha toxin, which is what is required for treating ME/CFS.

The general idea of toxoid vaccines (= vaccines that do not contain any bacteria, but just their toxins), is that in a bacterial infection, it is often the toxins synthesized by the bacteria which do much more harm than the bacteria themselves. So therefore, if you use a toxoid vaccine to create an antibody response against these bacterial toxins, if you did catch an infection from the bacteria, the infection will be must less harmful, as your immune system would know how to inactivate the bacterial toxins.

The tetanus vaccine is an example of a toxoid vaccine: it contains bacterial toxins, but no actual bacteria.
 

redaxe

Senior Member
Messages
230
Is it possible for another toxoid vaccine to have the same benefit e.g. a tetanus booster?
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Is it possible for another toxoid vaccine to have the same benefit e.g. a tetanus booster?
I don't think so, otherwise Professor Gottfries (himself an ME/CFS patient) and all those ME/CFS patients in Sweden who were greatly benefiting from the Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine would have switched to another toxoid vaccine.


I think the mechanism of action of Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine is very specific: this vaccine has an immunomodulatory properties, and in particular, this study indicates that Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine corrects the immunodeficiency caused by coxsackievirus B3 infection.

Now ME/CFS is strongly linked to coxsackievirus B, so if Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine corrects the immunodeficiency caused by coxsackievirus B, this may explain why this vaccine can be so beneficial for ME/CFS patients.

Though I would like to know the precise mechanism by which Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine corrects the coxsackievirus B-induced immunodeficiency.


Interestingly, Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine was used as a treatment as early as the 1930s, and this 1936 study found that Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine improved diabetes (and diabetes is also linked to, and I think likely caused by, coxsackievirus B infection).
 
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Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
An more about the above-cited study:

Correction of immune response using purified staphylococcal toxoid and likopid in the secondary immunodeficiency induced by Coxsackie virus B3

This study indicates that the immunomodulator drug Licopid was always able to correct the secondary (acquired) immunodeficiency caused by coxsackievirus B3 infection.

By contrast, the study authors found that Staphylococcal toxoid was sometimes able to correct this secondary immunodeficiency, but sometimes it made it worse, depending on the experimental set-up the authors used.

Licopid is a synthetic analogue of a cell wall component of all bacteria. The Russian name for this drug is Ликопид.

More information about Licopid HERE (Google translated from Russian).


I found Licopid for sale in these three pharmacies:
Licopid 1mg
Licopid 1mg tablets #10. Worldwide delivery

Купить Ликопид тб. 1 мг №10


This article mentions that Leukomeal, which is a "natural capsule form food version of Licopid" (whatever that means), has anecdotally been shown to improve quality of life for people with a wide variety of chronic degenerative diseases including ME/CFS.
 
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Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
An interesting study:

Correction of immune response using purified staphylococcal toxoid and likopid in the secondary immunodeficiency induced by Coxsackie virus B3

This study indicates that the immunomodulator drug Licopid was always able to correct the secondary (acquired) immunodeficiency caused by coxsackievirus B3 infection.

By contrast, the study authors found that Staphylococcal toxoid was sometimes able to correct this secondary immunodeficiency, but sometimes it made it worse, depending on the experimental set-up the authors used.

Licopid is a synthetic analogue of a cell wall component of all bacteria. The Russian name for this drug is Ликопид.

More information about Licopid HERE (Google translated from Russian).


I found Licopid for sale in these pharmacies:

Licopid 1mg

Licopid 1mg tablets #10. Worldwide delivery

Купить Ликопид тб. 1 мг №10



This article mentions that Leukomeal, which is a "natural capsule form food version of Licopid" (whatever that means), has anecdotally been shown to improve quality of life for people with a wide variety of chronic degenerative diseases including ME/CFS.
Are you going to try it?
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Are you going to try it?

I might try it.

I find it interesting that Licopid corrects the immune suppression caused by coxsackievirus B. I have often speculated that the herpes family virus reactivations found in many ME/CFS patients may in fact be due to coxsackievirus B immunosuppression (ie, that these herpes virus activations in ME/CFS are a secondary result of catching the immunosuppressive coxsackievirus B infection).

So if you can correct this coxsackievirus B immunosuppression, this might also resolve any herpes family virus reactivations you have, and thus improve your health.

I have tried three different Russian immunomodulators before (arbidol, tilorone and cycloferon), and did not notice any benefits, but those three were interferon boosters.

However, Licopid works differently; it activates macrophages and neutrophils — see this study, and see also the Licopid data below:

LICOPID
Information about the drug

Origin. Licopid is a new semisynthetic drug of natural origin. As an immunomodulator Licopid enhances suppressed immune response or, in contrast, it can suppress autoimmune reaction.

The active ingredient of Licopid was first revealed in Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences, and was developed to a drug by collaborative work of the Russian and British researchers and clinicians.

Advantages
• Very effective natural immunomodulator
• Simple and convenient application - in tablets
• Licopid can used in combination with antibiotics and anti-viral drugs to reduce their dose without reduction in therapeutic efficacy
• In case of resistance to or side effects of antibiotics and anti-viral drugs Licopid can use alone for therapy of infection
• Reduction in the frequency of exacerbation in chronic diseases improves the quality of patient's life

Properties. Active ingredient: N-Acetylglucosaminyl-(β1→4)-N-acetylmuramyl-alanyl-D-isoglutamine. It represents the main fragment of bacterial cell wall.

Presentation. Tablets containing 1 mg or 10 mg of the active ingredient, 10 tablets per blister.

Mode of action. Licopid increases general resistance against pathogens by activating phagocyte cells (neutrophils and macrophages). These cells ingest and destroy pathogenic microorganisms and at the same time, they secrete cytokines, which affect T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes and thus support the development of specific immune response. In case of suppressed haemopoiesis, e.g. caused by of chemotherapy or irradiation, Licopid treatment results in not only qualitative, but also in quantitative changes in non-specific immunity, namely in rapid neutrophils count restoring.

Therapeutic use. Licopid is used in adults:
• For correcting immune reactions as a component of the complex therapy of various diseases associated with reduction of the immune status, including acute and chronic purulent processes and inflammatory diseases.
• For prevention of infectious complications in post-trauma and postoperative period, and in oncology during chemotherapy/radiotherapy.
• For treatment of tuberculosis, cervical human papilla virus infections, ophthalmic herpes infection, psoriatic erythroderma, classic, pustular and exsudative forms of psoriasis.

Side effects. Contra-indications are unknown. The raise of the body temperature up to 38° С occasionally observed after taking Licopid can not be considered as a serious side effect, but reflects the development of immune reaction.

Contra-indications. Pregnancy (no clinical data). Individual hypersensitivity.

Dosage
For treatment and prevention of septic complications and inflammatory diseases and for treatment of chronic lung diseases in remission: 1 to 2 mg of Licopid per day taken sublingually for 10 days.

For treatment of chronic lung diseases in exacerbation, tuberculosis and human papilloma virus infection: 10 mg of Licopid per day taken orally for 10 days.

For treatment of herpes keratitis: 10 mg of Licopid twice a day for 3 days; after a 3-day rest the course must be repeated.

For treatment of psoriasis: 10 to 20 mg of Licopid per day for 10 days and then the same dose once in two days for another 10 days. In one-two weeks the course can be repeated.

Manufacturer. PEPTEK is the manufacturer of Licopid. PEPTEK is a Russian pharmaceutical company having a goal to develop modern industrial production of medicines based on peptide technologies. Peptek produces and sells immunomodulator Licopid.

Source: here.


A company website with more info can be found here, and in particular, this pdf document from that website contains more details about Licopid; some of these details I have copied below:
Licopid® is a medicinal form of Glucoseminyl Muramilpeptide, a repetitive structural fragment of peptidoglycan.

What is the importance of muramyl- peptides and why they are defined as potential medicinal molecules? Muramylpeptide are natural boosters of innate immunity through innate immunity receptor NOD-2. These are not alien molecules; our organism encounters them every day to fight ‘malignant’ microbes, processing ‘useful’ bacteria having Glucoseminyl Muramylpeptide in their cell walls.

What are the effects of Muramylpeptides over human organism? Besides increasing functional activity of the ‘main’ cells of innate immune system, phagocytes there are other useful properties of this class such as antitumor, anti-metastatic effects, adjuvant properties (increase of antibodies elaboration while immunization which is more important when introducing killed or ‘weakened’ antigens).

More info on the NOD2 receptor that Licopid activates in this Wikipedia article.
 
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golden

Senior Member
Messages
1,831
Does anyone here know what are the top 5 virus contenders? And where would you place coxsackie b3 in the runnings please?
 
Messages
12
Hello Phoenix Rising members, I am reviving an old thread to get community input on a possible interpretation of the results of this study.

In summary, use of a Staphylococcus vaccine effectively reduced symptoms of Chronic fatigue syndrome at the start of treatment and had shown further improvement in a follow-up period. The results were considered "impressive" http://iacfsme.org/ME-CFS-Primer-Ed...apy-of-Fibromyalgia-and-Chronic-Fati-(1).aspx.

The vaccine used, Staphypan http://www.medicatione.com/?c=drug&s=staphypan&ingredient=staphylococcus aureus cell lysate, contained bacterial components (antigens) of Staphylococcus aureus. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies against those antigens and therefore, works to fight against Staph infections http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117950.

About 33% of the population are carriers of Staphylococcus aureus http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529124. Some are heavier carriers than others. Nasal carriage of S. aureus is also well known for causing a number of different diseases http://antimicrobe.org/h04c.files/history/LID 2005 V5 - Werthiem-Saureus.pdf.

Could colonization by Staphylococcus aureus be a contributing factor to the symptoms of Chronic fatigue syndrome?Have members of the community ever been tested for S. aureus carriage or are prone to Staph infections?

S. aureus
can cause a number of different diseases, including:

nose bleeds http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1002104
allergies http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984262/
asthma http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3643054/
sinusitis http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-sinusitis-ess.html
acne/folliculitis http://www.ifd.org/protocols/bacterial-infections-of-the-hair-follicles
psoriasis http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19286488
and eczema http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10096-003-0928-0

Is there an association between any of those conditions and CFS? Have symptoms of CFS lessened when taking oral antibiotics?

If S. aureus carriage is determined, a doctor may prescribe or recommend the use of a topical antibiotic to put in the nasal passages as treatment against those diseases. Mupirocin http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/mupirocin-nasal-route/description/drg-20064917 and Triple Antibiotic Ointment http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23377521 would be two examples. This may provide the benefit of a targeted response without affecting the rest of the microbiome. Also, if S. aureus is a contributing factor to CFS it could provide an added benefit of reducing symptoms.

Thanks for your time and I would appreciate any community input :)
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
I have 4/7 of those symptoms @healthyalmonds. How do doctors test for s aureus? I also have insulin resistance and it was mentioned earlier in this thread the staph toxoid improved diabetes. I do not have a diabetes diagnosis. But pcos caused by insulin resistance so I try to cut out sugar and avoid diabetes if possible. .. I just wonder how likely mine has anything to do with staph aureus. ..?
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
@healthyalmonds
Increased allergies are common in ME/CFS, as is chronic sinusitis. Psoriasis also is more common. The others I have not heard much about, and are not more common as far as I am aware.



When I first read about Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine improving ME/CFS symptoms, I also thought it might be due to its effects of keeping Staphylococcus infections under control.

However, the alpha hemolysin toxin in this vaccine also has general immunomodulatory effects which could well help fight the viral infections found in ME/CFS. The vaccine has been shown to correct the immunodeficiency caused by coxsackievirus B infection, a virus frequently linked to ME/CFS. It also has been shown to potently increase nitric oxide, which has antiviral and antibacterial effects. And this study indicates that alpha toxin is a strong IL-17 inducer.

So the benefits of Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine in ME/CFS may be unrelated to any Staphylococcus infection.



Nevertheless, it may be worth exploring the possibility of Staphylococcus nasal carriage in cases of chronic sinusitis. And it would be easy enough to treat such Staphylococcus nasal infection with mupirocin (Bactroban) topical nasal cream.

But bear in mind that in spite of the benefits of the Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine for ME/CFS patients, Staphylococcus infection might not have much to with ME/CFS.

Having said that, it's worth noting that chronic Staphylococcus bacteremia can cause ME/CFS in animals and humans (more info on this thread).
 
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Biarritz13

Senior Member
Messages
699
Location
France
Hi everyone,

It's seem here there was a drug who can treat near to 50% of the ME sufferers but due to money, it doesn't exist anymore.

Today with crowdfunding website, everything becomes possible...Starting a trial? Starting a firm to develop it? I mean just putting the project on a website like Kickstarter for example will interest a huge number of people.

What are your thought?
 

sillysocks84

Senior Member
Messages
445
@Theodore I say make it and they shall come! I bet a lot of members, their family, and their friends could contribute. Not to mention the other me cfs dysautonomia organizations out there you could contact after setting it up! We could get the funds relatively fast I'd think.
 

Biarritz13

Senior Member
Messages
699
Location
France
@sillysocks84 Before putting in on a crowdfunding, we need either to do it with an organization already created or with a new one. Don't know what would be best.

Yes I am referring to this vaccin.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
It's seem here there was a drug who can treat near to 50% of the ME sufferers but due to money, it doesn't exist anymore.

Today with crowdfunding website, everything becomes possible...Starting a trial? Starting a firm to develop it? I mean just putting the project on a website like Kickstarter for example will interest a huge number of people.

What are your thought?

A new Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine is already being developed at the University of California, San Diego. The researchers their placed Staphylococcus alpha-hemolysin toxin into "nanosponges" in order to make this new vaccine.

And the University of Iowa has developed a new Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine that may be available for sale within a year. Their vaccine however is slightly different to the above two in that it contains three Staphylococcus toxins: toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST), Staphylococcus enterotoxins, and alpha hemolysin toxin. See here.

And the University of Minnesota has fully developed a Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine manufacturing technology, which is just waiting to be adopted by a vaccine manufacturer (the University's technology transfer department is currently looking to license this manufacturing technology) — though I think this may be the same vaccine as the one developed at the University of Iowa.


EDIT: There is another Staphylococcus aureus toxoid vaccine in development called IBT-V02 by Integrated Biotherapeutics Inc.


When any of these vaccines become available, it will be a great boon for ME/CFS patients.
 
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Biarritz13

Senior Member
Messages
699
Location
France
A new Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine is already being developed at the University of California, San Diego. The researchers their placed Staphylococcus alpha-hemolysin toxin into "nanosponges" in order to make this new vaccine.

And the University of Minnesota has already fully developed a Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine manufacturing technology, which is just waiting to be adopted by a vaccine manufacturer (the University's technology transfer department is currently looking to license this manufacturing technology).

And the University of Iowa has developed a new Staphylococcus toxoid vaccine that may be available for sale within a year. Their vaccine however is slightly different to the above two in that it contains three Staphylococcus toxins: toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST), Staphylococcus enterotoxins, and alpha hemolysin toxin.

It is only the alpha hemolysin toxin we want for treating ME/CFS; but the presence of the other two Staphylococcus toxins in the University of Iowa's vaccine should be of no concern, I would think, provided there is sufficient alpha hemolysin toxin in the vaccine.


When any of these vaccines become available, it will be a great boon for ME/CFS patients.

Indeed! Thank you for these links but it would work only if they are working like the first one, isn't it?

Still, I think the idea of a global & monthly crowdfunding campaign would be great and would do a difference.
 

Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
Prof. Gerhard Gottfries was the first one,a s far as I know to use the vaccine. He got the Asian flue around 1958. At that time it wasn´t unusual to give the Staphypan vaccine to people as an immunemodulator when they were affected with repeated infections as colds etcetera. Prof. Gottfries decided to try the vaccine and after that he has been "healthy" as long as he gets the vaccine monthly. I heard it from himself. He is now 87 years old and still writing, maybe also seeing patients. I had an appt with him 2 years ago! Here is an interview with him were he talks about the vaccine among other things.
( There are 4 more parts of the interview from him as a ME-doctor).

He and some other ME-patients, who tolerated the preservative ( containing mercury) stored the vaccine for themselves, when the production at the company named Berna was closed down.

I did a lot of research earlier to try to find out what company might own the rights to produce the vaccine again. The company Berna has been sold and so have others after that. My latest "hit" on actual company owning the rights should be Novartis. From the Internet I got the feeling that that the vaccine might still be produced where tiomersal is allowed to use, and being sold in other parts of the world, than in Europe and US. With estimated 17 millons of people sick with ME worldwide I don´t think we should have to pay for the testing of a new preservative, but that´s my opinion.

Good job @Hip!