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Lyme ME/CFS study I'd like to locate

M

msf

Senior Member
Messages
3,650
I thought I would test Prof. Edward's theory about Phoenix Rising being a database for ME studies, and see if anyone has seen the article I'm looking for, and whether they know where it is.

As I recall, it was published either in the Hindawi journal or it was a study done in India (there was definitely an Indian vibe), and it was a chronological study of a group of teenagers.with ME/CFS. It wasn't a very substantial paper, but one finding I thought was very interesting: at the beginning of the study period a significant percentage of the teenagers had evidence of Borrelia infection and a few had signs of EBV infection (reactivation, primary infection, or latent, I'm not sure if it was specified), then, at the follow-up point, the proportion of patients with signs of Lyme exposure went down and the proportion with signs of EBV went up, so that 70 or 80% of the teenagers had one or the other.

If the evidence for EBV infection was just latency then the paper's findings are not very-significant. If, however, they used EBV early antigen as a marker for reactivation in the absence of IgM, that would be much more interesting, as it would suggest the process that KDM has described, in which patients with Lyme start to get EBV reactivations as their disease progresses.

Anyway, if someone a.) knows the article I'm referring to, and b.) can direct me to it, I don't think we need a bona fide database for ME studies, not when we have a hive mind right here!
 
Antares in NYC

Antares in NYC

Senior Member
Messages
582
Location
USA
Interesting. That paper would also support the hypothesis that ME/CFS is not caused by one single specific pathogen, but could be caused by many. Borreliosis, like other immune-evading pathogens, could lead to the immune collapse at the core of ME/CFS.
 
Last edited:
valentinelynx

valentinelynx

Senior Member
Messages
1,310
Location
Tucson
msf said:
I thought I would test Prof. Edward's theory about Phoenix Rising being a database for ME studies, and see if anyone has seen the article I'm looking for, and whether they know where it is.

As I recall, it was published either in the Hindawi journal or it was a study done in India (there was definitely an Indian vibe), and it was a chronological study of a group of teenagers.with ME/CFS. It wasn't a very substantial paper, but one finding I thought was very interesting: at the beginning of the study period a significant percentage of the teenagers had evidence of Borrelia infection and a few had signs of EBV infection (reactivation, primary infection, or latent, I'm not sure if it was specified), then, at the follow-up point, the proportion of patients with signs of Lyme exposure went down and the proportion with signs of EBV went up, so that 70 or 80% of the teenagers had one or the other.

If the evidence for EBV infection was just latency then the paper's findings are not very-significant. If, however, they used EBV early antigen as a marker for reactivation in the absence of IgM, that would be much more interesting, as it would suggest the process that KDM has described, in which patients with Lyme start to get EBV reactivations as their disease progresses.

Anyway, if someone a.) knows the article I'm referring to, and b.) can direct me to it, I don't think we need a bona fide database for ME studies, not when we have a hive mind right here!
Click to expand...


Would this be it? :)

Indian J Pediatr. 2012 Jan;79(1):52-5. doi: 10.1007/s12098-011-0463-4. Epub 2011 May 27.
Factors affecting duration of chronic fatigue syndrome in pediatric patients.
Petrov D1, Marchalik D, Sosin M, Bal A.
Author information

Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To determine factors affecting duration of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in pediatric patients.

METHODS:
This Retrospective cohort consisted of patients with CFS at the regional referral infectious disease clinic for evaluation of fatigue in children and adolescents. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were analyzed to identify the impact on duration and severity of pediatric CFS.

RESULTS:
A total number of 53 predominantly white (98.1%) patients with CFS, aged 9-18 years, were included in the study. Other than fatigue, headaches and sleep disturbance were the most common symptoms of pediatric CFS. Seropositive status for Borrelia burgdorferi (B. burgdorferi) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was identified in 66% of the patients with the diagnosis of CFS by CDC criteria. No association was found between the CFS symptoms, gender, or age at diagnosis and duration of fatigue symptoms. Duration of CFS was associated with high Body-Mass Index (BMI) in a regression model after adjustment for patient's age, gender, and seropositive status for B. burgdorferi and/or EBV (0.34 ± 0.15, P < 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS:
BMI is significantly associated with prolonged duration of CFS.

PMID:

21617905

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
M

msf

Senior Member
Messages
3,650
How the hell did you do that? I tried googling every combination I could think of on both pubmed and google, and found nothing! Was pediatrics the magic word? I even included a complete red herring with the Indian thing (I think I just saw the Chaudhuri foundation at the top).

Hmm, I thought it was a chronological study. Since they were merely using EBV seropositivity as a measure of EBV involvement, and excluding those with active disease, I think the only thing this study tells us is that a significant proportion of ME patients have been exposed to Lyme, which I think most of us who visit the Lyme forum already knew/suspected.

Before someone talks about prevalence in the general population, if you find any control population (excluding forest park rangers) in which 30% show signs of exposure to Lyme, I will be amazed.
 
M

msf

Senior Member
Messages
3,650
Here is a study of seroprevalence in the general population, where it is in single figures (I have never seen it reach double figures in one of these studies.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18752103

I also wanted to post a link to it to show how stupid studies can be: they found no physical or mental impairment associated with Lyme seropositivity, 'while adjusting for number of chronic diseases.' How about adjusting for the number of people who died?
 
valentinelynx

valentinelynx

Senior Member
Messages
1,310
Location
Tucson
msf said:
How the hell did you do that? I tried googling every combination I could think of on both pubmed and google, and found nothing! Was pediatrics the magic word? I even included a complete red herring with the Indian thing (I think I just saw the Chaudhuri foundation at the top).
.
Click to expand...

Let's see. I googled, "chronic fatigue syndrome teenagers borrelia india". Got it on the first try! I seem to have a talent for Google. Happy to help.
 
M

msf

Senior Member
Messages
3,650
Damn it, I googled the same but used the abbreviation and got nothing.
 
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