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Epstein-Barr virus - Autoimmunity and a Wily Virus: Is There a Link? (Article)

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Bob

Senior Member
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16,455
Location
England (south coast)
Autoimmunity and a Wily Virus: Is There a Link?
'The Gupta Guide'
By Nancy Walsh
Jan 14, 2014
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumat...=breaking-news&xid=NL_breakingnews_2014-01-14

This article is via @Jill who posted the details on another thread, here.
I think it deserves it's own thread.
This is a very interesting article exploring Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), autoimmunity, and B-cells, in relation to autoimmune diseases such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and lupus. They don't mention ME/CFS specifically but they do refer to "chronic autoimmune diseases", and I think it's very relevant to ME/CFS.
Worth a read.
 
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Ninan

Ninan

Senior Member
Messages
523
Interesting! I had my first outbreak the same day I believe I got ME/CFS, ten years ago. I don't think that's what caused it (I had severe ear infection for weeks, which probably set off my ME) but it probably wasn't a coincidense. I believe I got the virus about two years before that.

I've always figured this meant something. But what? Sure makes more sense in the light of the EBV-autoimmunity theories.
 
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natasa778

Senior Member
Messages
1,774
maryb

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
Ninan said:
Interesting! I had my first outbreak the same day I believe I got ME/CFS, ten years ago. I don't think that's what caused it (I had severe ear infection for weeks, which probably set off my ME) but it probably wasn't a coincidense. I believe I got the virus about two years before that.

I've always figured this meant something. But what? Sure makes more sense in the light of the EBV-autoimmunity theories.
Click to expand...

My ME also started with a viral ear infection - I've read that EBV likes to hang around in there:(
 
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Mij

Senior Member
Messages
2,353
ME started with thyroiditis for me. I also had mild ear aches that lasted 6 months soon after the initial vertigo. Enterovirus is a huge suspect, but apparently so is EBV.

"A viral disease is the result of an interaction between a virus and the host, in which the genetic background plays a role. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that a virus plays a role in a disease even though most infected individuals do not show any sign of disease."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654877/
 
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Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
Mij said:
ME started with thyroiditis for me. I also had mild ear aches that lasted 6 months soon after the initial vertigo. Enterovirus is a huge suspect, but apparently so is EBV.

"A viral disease is the result of an interaction between a virus and the host, in which the genetic background plays a role. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that a virus plays a role in a disease even though most infected individuals do not show any sign of disease."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2654877/
Click to expand...

Thyroiditis is also what I was first diagnosed with when I become ill. My history is even a little more strange because right before I became ill, I was bitten by a tick in the neck where my thryroid is located. Within a couple of weeks of receiving this bite (which at the time no one thought much about), I was vacationing in Incline Village. After returning home from this trip, I came down with a case of the flu like I had never experienced before. And so the story began . . .

Rich Von Kronenberg and I had some interesting discussions about EBV, Vitamin D, thyroid antigens and this illness. I miss Rich so much and I am sure so many others in the ME/CFS community do as well. When I become so frustrated with all the outside "insanity" that seems to haunt this illness, I am reminded of Rich's compassion, grace under fire and profound intelligence in trying to help solve this medical mystery. I hope he is looking down upon us right now with a beaming smile, cheering us on to not give up on the search for answers. Rich would not have given up on us and we should not give up on ourselves. :angel:

For those of you who may not know the name Rich Von Kronenberg, he was a great supporter of ME/CFS patients and gave countless hours of his time here on the Forum and elsewhere talking to patients, studying the research about ME/CFS and other similar illnesses, and hunting for answers to help crack open the mysteries behind this disorder. Rich unexpectedly passed away in September of 2012 and our patient community lost a great warrior in the fight to solve this illness. I was not able to find the article written about Rich on this Forum, but if someone is able to locate it for me, I will edit this post to include it.

You may also want to take a look at the thread located here at http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...r-the-control-of-vitamin-d.26757/#post-408358.

Wally :nerd:
 
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Mij

Senior Member
Messages
2,353
Wally said:
Thyroiditis is also what I was first diagnosed with when I become ill. My history is even a little more strange because right before I became ill, I was bitten by a tick in the neck where my thryroid is located. Within a couple of weeks of receiving this bite (which at the time no one thought much about), I was vacationing in Incline Village. After returning home from this trip, I came down with a case of the flu like I had never experienced before. And so the story began . . .

Wally :nerd:
Click to expand...

Interesting, Wally. The ME specialist who diagnosed me 23yrs ago told me he had a patient who developed thyroiditis after a bee sting, not sure if it bit her in the neck though. She also developed ME later down the road.
 
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Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
Mij said:
Interesting, Wally. The ME specialist who diagnosed me 23yrs ago told me he had a patient who developed thyroiditis after a bee sting, not sure if it bit her in the neck though. She also developed ME later down the road.
Click to expand...

Since a bee is an arthropod. I think it would be possible for these insects to carry the same types of pathogens? Perhaps some science minded person will wander by and be able to answer whether this is correct or not.

When doctors are coding for medical billing purposes there is a code that covers the general category of arthropod related illnesses. Wouldn't it be interesting if this illness or a subset of this illness ends up having a connection to transmission via arthropods and thus just needs to be coded correctly for a person with insurance coverage to get medical services paid for. So very, very interesting how so many roads seem to circle back around to $$$ and a particular industry.
 
MeSci

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
Wally said:
Since a bee is an arthropod. I think it would be possible for these insects to carry the same types of pathogens? Perhaps some science minded person will wander by and be able to answer whether this is correct or not.

When doctors are coding for medical billing purposes there is a code that covers the general category of arthropod related illnesses. Wouldn't it be interesting if this illness or a subset of this illness ends up having a connection to transmission via arthropods and thus just needs to be coded correctly for a person with insurance coverage to get medical services paid for. So very, very interesting how so many roads seem to circle back around to $$$ and a particular industry.
Click to expand...

I have often wondered what pathogens are carried by fleas. I had a terrible plague of fleas in my house around the time I became ill, but had put my subsequent illness down to the organophosphate-based flea treatments I used. At the time I was also under a lot of stress and suffering financial hardship, so that I couldn't afford to eat properly, which are likely to have made me more susceptible.

I have often wondered why the itching from flea bites keeps dying down and then reappearing, as though something is reactivating, and have wondered about infectious agents.

Just did a quick search for 'flea pathogen vector' and got lots of hits including this one.

Guess there's not much we can do to avoid all such risks.
 
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Mij

Senior Member
Messages
2,353
Now that I recall what my doctor told me is that the bee sting was probably a "trigger" to her developing ME, not necessarily the infectious agent.

I received several vaccines for a course I was taking shortly after my initial sudden onset, so my immune system was already suseptable.
 
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Mij

Senior Member
Messages
2,353
This doctor was co-author of the draft of the original version of the ME/CFS consensus document

He knows something.
.
 
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Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
In reference to the YouTube video posted above in Reply #16, here is one review of Michael Carroll's book, "Lab 257", which questions some of the "questions" Mr. Carroll raises in his book about Plum Island and Lyme Disease.

Sometimes it does feel like we have fallen down a rabbit hole with all the possible ideas/leads that keep popping up. Curiouser and curiouser.

 
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anciendaze

anciendaze

Senior Member
Messages
1,841
Before anyone gets too upset about Lyme disease escaping from a laboratory, I would mention that "Oetzi", the bronze-age iceman found in a glacier on the border between Austria and Italy, tested positive for borrelia burghdorferi. His body had been frozen since about the time the pyramids were built in Egypt.

This is not to say that there is no cause for concern, just that the problem is quite different. There are three species of spirochete on different continents which are currently known to cause borreliosis like Lyme disease. There is also a species (b. miyamotoi) known to cause relapsing fever which now turns out to be in North America, and not just in Japan and Eurasia. No plausible scenario connects all these with any modern development.

What this tells me is that patients with all the modern diagnostic characteristics of Lyme disease have been turning up throughout history, yet nobody paid attention until a cluster of cases appeared in one location the 1970s. Considering all the complications revealed since, this is a shocking revelation on the state of medical practice and the ability of researchers to spot emerging diseases. Lyme was hiding in plain sight.
 
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