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XMRV, CMV, and HHV-7

sarahg

Admin Assistant
Messages
276
Location
Pennsylvania
Here is an interesting tidbit that I got from my DR. today (1'st post xmrv) that I had not heard elsewhere- He has been in email contact with Peterson and apparently they must have tested some of the XMRV positive blood samples for coinfections and the 2 major ones were CMV and HHV-7. My doctor was quite intrigued by the HHV-7 aspect, although in my detox addled brain I can't remember why, but he felt that was a big thing. I need to start bringing a recorder, I think! (as all my notes say is peterson, 2 maj. coinfect CMV HHV7)
I have never been tested for HHV-7 but it sounds like I will be the next time I go for blood. (have high HHV-6, Parvo B-19, and EBV) At least, thank god, I am negative for CMV for now.

Has anyone else heard anything about this? I am keeping my Dr. anonymous on this thread because I don't know if this was something he was supposed to tell patients or not.

Not surprisingly, my doctor told me to wait until more studies come out and there is a test my insurance will pay for before I get too excited. He is obviously excited by the results himself, but does not want to disappoint later on. I think that is what we are seeing from a lot of doctors- that so many studies have come out that seemed like they were going to blow the lid off this thing, and then fizzled. They are all so worn out by those experiences that when something like this happens they can't help but hold their breath. He was also impressed by the fact Peterson gave a presentation at CFSAC, which, oddly, my doctor had not known existed until this presentation. (not generally one to get involved in the politics, I think, but, oh, how he loves all the studies)
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Sarah you got a good doctor- I wish they were all keen and interested like yours:(
 

starryeyes

Senior Member
Messages
1,558
Location
Bay Area, California
That's interesting Sarah. What a great doctor you have.

I recall reading that HHV6 can hide out in the brain. I believe it was Sophia Mirtza or someone like her who was found to have no HHV6 in her blood or spinal fluid but her the basal ganglia in her brain was infected with it. That makes me wonder about HHV7 and other pathogens.
 
Messages
90
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Hhv7

Eee-gads, I first misread your doctor as testing your blood for "confections" in my brain-fogged morning state. Certainly got my attention!

The HHV-7 got my attention too because Dr. Charles Stratton, head of Clinical Microbiology at Vanderbilt University, mentioned finding it in blood samples of a couple of CFS patients they had tested recently. I had never hear of that particular variant as related to CFS, and it may not mean much. Virology online says:

HHV-7 was first isolated in 1989 from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of a healthy individual. Since then, HHV-7 has been isolated from the saliva of as many as 75% of healthy adults. Antibodies to HHV-7 can be detected in the serum specimens from 90% of the normal population. HHV-7 has yet to be conclusively with any disease. There is data to suggest that it is able to cause roseala infantum. http://virology-online.com/viruses/HHV-6_4.htm
With this common of a finding it may only be a problem in those of us immunosuppressed for other reasons, like XMRV.
 

sarahg

Admin Assistant
Messages
276
Location
Pennsylvania
I found an interesting HHV-7 article as I was trying to figure out more about it. This late in the day, most of it is over my head, but includes some tidbits about what HHV-7 may do.

http://www.pnas.org/content/89/21/10552.abstract

from the page with the abstract there is a link to the full article for free. They describe it as a T-lymphotropic virus. I am going to reread this when I have a better brain.

on a side note, I was horrified when looking for info - if you google HHV-7 + CFS this thread is the second thing that comes up. I always feel like this place is more private than it really probably is. I'm shy! I hope I'm the only one googling that! Not to mention, in the grand scheme of things, one would hope that studies would have more relevance than random patients on an internet forum in terms of what comes up in a search.
 

sarahg

Admin Assistant
Messages
276
Location
Pennsylvania
by the way, jim,

at this point I'd take confections over coinfections any day!

even if they are blood confections...

I love it when misreading things makes life more amusing than it probably should.
 
K

_Kim_

Guest
on a side note, I was horrified when looking for info - if you google HHV-7 + CFS this thread is the second thing that comes up. I always feel like this place is more private than it really probably is. I'm shy! I hope I'm the only one googling that! Not to mention, in the grand scheme of things, one would hope that studies would have more relevance than random patients on an internet forum in terms of what comes up in a search.

sarahg, Thanks for looking into HHV-7 for us. I'm going to read that article tomorrow morning when I can see clearly again. I know what you mean about this place getting so many google hits. In the past few weeks, whenever I google for something CFS-related, this forum has popped up on the first page of search results. And a couple of times, I have seen one of my posts :eek: on there. No, this is no longer an invisible internet community. We are very visable!

Thanks to Aftermath, the brainchild of this forum. He foresaw the need to establish a community where there is no censorship and the word of the day is respectful discussions (I guess that's two words). And thanks, too, to Cort and Jody and ChronicallyFatigued for keeping this all going. With a board this active, can you believe that it is run by only four people? Bravo to our fearless fatigued leaders!!!