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An excellent video by Dr John Chia from the Invest in ME conference, London 2010, in which he explains the symptoms of acute enterovirus infections, and focuses on the mechanisms by which chronic enterovirus infection may cause ME/CFS. Also details enterovirus ME/CFS treatments like oxymatrine.
This video was previously only available to buy on DVD, but Invest in ME have recently uploaded all their DVD conference videos to their YouTube channel, where they can be viewed for free.
Here are some highlights from the Dr Chia 2010 presentation:
If you'd like to further explore the chronic non-cytolytic enteroviral RNA infections found in ME/CFS, virologist Prof Nora Chapman provides mechanism of action details on chronic enterovirus in her Invest in ME 2010 presentation. She also provides another good explanation in the Chapman Baltimore 2008 video. But note that the Chapman videos are heavy on virological science.
Dr Chia has given several other very accessible presentations on enteroviruses at Invest in ME London conferences, including his 2009 video, 2011 video and 2015 video. There is also Dr Chia's 2008 Baltimore video. Much of the content of these videos is similar to the content of the above 2010 video.
A PR thread detailing non-cytolytic enteroviruses is found here.
There is an in-depth MEpedia article on non-cytolytic enteroviruses.
There are also MEpedia articles on the enterovirus infections found in the brains of ME/CFS patients, and a history of enterovirus research in ME/CFS (which dates back to British research starting in 1970s, and ends with Dr Chia's pioneering research).
This video was previously only available to buy on DVD, but Invest in ME have recently uploaded all their DVD conference videos to their YouTube channel, where they can be viewed for free.
Here are some highlights from the Dr Chia 2010 presentation:
Dr John Chia 2010 Video Highlights
➤ Dr Chia details the symptoms of acute enteroviral infections (timecode 5:15).
➤ Dr Chia mentions giving corticosteroids to a patient with an acute viral infection can be a recipe for disaster, actually causing ME/CFS, because the corticosteroids suppress the immune system and may allow the acute viral infection to get the upper hand (timecode 07:31). There is also a thread on this here.
➤ Dr Chia explains how chronic enteroviral infections can be diagnosed (timecode 10:03).
➤ Dr Chia talks about the enteroviral RNA that was found in the heart, muscles, hypothalamus and brainstem of one ME/CFS patient who was autopsied after her death (timecode 12:34).
➤ Dr Chia says he developed a technique for detecting enteroviruses in ME/CFS patients, which involves taking a stomach biopsy. Dr Chia found enteroviral VP1 protein in ME/CFS patient stomach biopsies, with 82% of ME/CFS patient biopsies being positive for enteroviral VP1 protein, compared to only 20% of healthy controls (timecode 16:03).
➤ Dr Chia discusses the treatment protocols he uses for his ME/CFS patients, and talks about intravenous interferon treatment. However, he says he does not use interferon that much these days, due to high cost, side effects and toxicity (timecode 23:21).
➤ Dr Chia details his treatment protocol using the immunomodulator oxymatrine, which is one of the mainstays of his ME/CFS treatment (timecode 31:28).
➤ Dr Chia explains that he found a shift from the Th2 mode towards Th1 mode in the cytokine profiles of all the ME/CFS patients who responded well to oxymatrine, but that this shift to Th1 was not found in the patients who did not improve on oxymatrine. Th1 is the immune mode needed to fight viral and intracellular infections (timecode 37:05).
➤ Stomach biopsies from ME/CFS patients taken before and after oxymatrine treatment corroborate the idea that the improvements in ME/CFS arise from the immune system fighting off the viral infection. Dr Chia found a reduced presence of enterovirus in the stomach biopsies taken after the oxymatrine treatment, compared to those taken before, indicating that vial loads in the patient are being reduced by oxymatrine (timecode 41:28).
➤ Dr Chia talks about the enterovirus double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) intracellular infections that exist alongside the regular enterovirus infections in ME/CFS patients. Chia says that this dsRNA can open up into its constituent positive and negative strands of single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), and they can multiply inside cells to make more of themselves (timecode 42:39).
➤ Dr Chia talks about the paradox of why there is a persistent enterovirus infection in ME/CFS patients, yet there are so many neutralizing antibodies in the blood that would normally be expected to clear the infection. Dr Chia states that this paradox is explained by the fact that the non-cytolytic enteroviral RNA infection hides inside human cells, and this RNA infection cannot be touched by the neutralizing antibodies that would normally wipe out a viral infection.
Dr Chia says that the body makes interferons which fight the non-cytolytic enteroviral RNA in the cells (and drugs like Ampligen can increase interferon production and thereby ramp up this fight), but this RNA replicates faster than the body's natural interferon is able to wipe it out, so the ME/CFS patient is always losing the battle against the infection.
Dr Chia says, however, that there may be ways to interrupt the non-cytolytic enteroviral RNA replication, and in his opinion, ME/CFS will in the future become be a treatable disease (timecode 43:46).
If you'd like to further explore the chronic non-cytolytic enteroviral RNA infections found in ME/CFS, virologist Prof Nora Chapman provides mechanism of action details on chronic enterovirus in her Invest in ME 2010 presentation. She also provides another good explanation in the Chapman Baltimore 2008 video. But note that the Chapman videos are heavy on virological science.
Dr Chia has given several other very accessible presentations on enteroviruses at Invest in ME London conferences, including his 2009 video, 2011 video and 2015 video. There is also Dr Chia's 2008 Baltimore video. Much of the content of these videos is similar to the content of the above 2010 video.
A PR thread detailing non-cytolytic enteroviruses is found here.
There is an in-depth MEpedia article on non-cytolytic enteroviruses.
There are also MEpedia articles on the enterovirus infections found in the brains of ME/CFS patients, and a history of enterovirus research in ME/CFS (which dates back to British research starting in 1970s, and ends with Dr Chia's pioneering research).
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