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Some interesting reading here.
https://mecentralresearch.blogspot.co.uk/
ME RESEARCH CENTRAL
...All about the DIRE, Relapsing-Remitting NEUROIMMUNE Illness I call DEBILITATING IMMUNOPATHIC RELAPSING ENCEPHALOMYELITIS, variously known as CFS, CFIDS, ME, Low Natural Killer Cell Disease...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
ME/CFS
IRE PANDEMIC, Pandemonium Outcries for Research and Therapeutics[/paste:font]
by Helen Borel,RN,MFA,PhD
In 1992, I reported that, according to Landay et al. in a 1991 issue of Lancet (1)"An increasing frequency of CFSIRE is occurring in Australia, the United States, Britain and around the world."
And that a 1989 Summary of CFSIRE by Komaroff and Goldenberg in the Journal of
Rheumatology (2) concluded that "Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by
chronic, debilitating fatigue lasting greater than 6 months. Frequent chronic and recurrent findings include fever, pharyngitis, myalgias, adenopathy, arthralgias, difficulties in cognition and disorders of mood. In the majority of patients, the illness starts suddenly with an acute, 'flu-like' illness."
Laboratory Abnormalities Seen with Some Frequency
Although not observed in all CFSIRE patients, these laboratory anomalies occur often
enough in such sufferers, they reported: "...lymphocytosis, atypical lymphocytosis, monocytosis, eleva-tion of hepatocellular enzymes, low levels of antinuclear antibodies, varying levels of antithyroid antibodies, partial hypergammaglobulinemia, elevated CD4:CD8 ratio, decreased cytolytic activity of natural killer cells, and low levels of immune complexes." (2)
Here it is important to note that autoimmune phenomena, like the presence of antinuclear antibodies and hypergammaglobulinemia, are also characteristic of lupus.
The Herpesviruses Implicated in Clinical and Serologic Studies
According to Komoroff and Goldenberg (2), clinical and serologic studies "suggest an association of CFS with all of the human herpesviruses, particularly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the recently discovered...human herpesvirus 6 [though] neither
EBV nor HHV-6 has yet been shown to play a causal role in this illness."
After studying 350 CFSIRE patients over a 3-year period, these clinician-researchers (2) reported: "All of them have been ill for at least 6 months. The main symptom is fatigue. The typical patient has been ill for 2.9 years (as of January, 1988); some have been ill for much longer. About 25% describe themselves as regularly bedridden or shut-in, unable to work. About one third can work only part-time. Before they became ill, the patients perceived that they typically were more energetic than most of their friends."
They further reported that in about 85% of the patients, "The chronic illness has followed the sudden onset of an acute 'flu-like' illness characterized by fever, pharyngitis, adenopathy, myalgias and related symptoms. Unlike the usual 'flu,' the patients state they have never fully recovered from this illness....20-50% experience chronic postexertional malaise and recurrent night sweats."
High Prevalence of Allergy in ME/CFSIRE Patients
Allergy is so prevalent in CFSIRE that these investigators (2) emphasized: "On medical history, the only clearly striking finding is a high frequency of atopic or allergic illness (in about 50 to 70%)."
Low Basal Body Temperature in Many of these Patients
On clinical examination, Komoroff and Goldenberg (2) found that "In 15-50% of patients there are fevers, [in others] unusually low basal body temperature (below 97 degrees Fahrenheit); posterior cervical adenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly, which usually disappears after the first 3 months of illness."
Source of the Whole Array of Symptoms - Immune System Hyperactivation
About immune system hyperactivation, these researchers (2) argue that "There is growing speculation that much of the morbidity of CFS - especially the fatigue, fevers, adenopathy, cognitive disorders and mood disorders - comes from a subtle, generalized chronic activation of the immune system, particularly the elaboration of several cytokines. Some preliminary data support this hypothesis."
On Possible Viral Etiologies
https://mecentralresearch.blogspot.co.uk/
ME RESEARCH CENTRAL
...All about the DIRE, Relapsing-Remitting NEUROIMMUNE Illness I call DEBILITATING IMMUNOPATHIC RELAPSING ENCEPHALOMYELITIS, variously known as CFS, CFIDS, ME, Low Natural Killer Cell Disease...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
ME/CFS
IRE PANDEMIC, Pandemonium Outcries for Research and Therapeutics[/paste:font]by Helen Borel,RN,MFA,PhD
In 1992, I reported that, according to Landay et al. in a 1991 issue of Lancet (1)"An increasing frequency of CFS
IRE is occurring in Australia, the United States, Britain and around the world."And that a 1989 Summary of CFS
IRE by Komaroff and Goldenberg in the Journal ofRheumatology (2) concluded that "Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by
chronic, debilitating fatigue lasting greater than 6 months. Frequent chronic and recurrent findings include fever, pharyngitis, myalgias, adenopathy, arthralgias, difficulties in cognition and disorders of mood. In the majority of patients, the illness starts suddenly with an acute, 'flu-like' illness."
Laboratory Abnormalities Seen with Some Frequency
Although not observed in all CFS
IRE patients, these laboratory anomalies occur oftenenough in such sufferers, they reported: "...lymphocytosis, atypical lymphocytosis, monocytosis, eleva-tion of hepatocellular enzymes, low levels of antinuclear antibodies, varying levels of antithyroid antibodies, partial hypergammaglobulinemia, elevated CD4:CD8 ratio, decreased cytolytic activity of natural killer cells, and low levels of immune complexes." (2)
Here it is important to note that autoimmune phenomena, like the presence of antinuclear antibodies and hypergammaglobulinemia, are also characteristic of lupus.
The Herpesviruses Implicated in Clinical and Serologic Studies
According to Komoroff and Goldenberg (2), clinical and serologic studies "suggest an association of CFS with all of the human herpesviruses, particularly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the recently discovered...human herpesvirus 6 [though] neither
EBV nor HHV-6 has yet been shown to play a causal role in this illness."
After studying 350 CFS
IRE patients over a 3-year period, these clinician-researchers (2) reported: "All of them have been ill for at least 6 months. The main symptom is fatigue. The typical patient has been ill for 2.9 years (as of January, 1988); some have been ill for much longer. About 25% describe themselves as regularly bedridden or shut-in, unable to work. About one third can work only part-time. Before they became ill, the patients perceived that they typically were more energetic than most of their friends."They further reported that in about 85% of the patients, "The chronic illness has followed the sudden onset of an acute 'flu-like' illness characterized by fever, pharyngitis, adenopathy, myalgias and related symptoms. Unlike the usual 'flu,' the patients state they have never fully recovered from this illness....20-50% experience chronic postexertional malaise and recurrent night sweats."
High Prevalence of Allergy in ME/CFS
IRE Patients Allergy is so prevalent in CFS
IRE that these investigators (2) emphasized: "On medical history, the only clearly striking finding is a high frequency of atopic or allergic illness (in about 50 to 70%)."Low Basal Body Temperature in Many of these Patients
On clinical examination, Komoroff and Goldenberg (2) found that "In 15-50% of patients there are fevers, [in others] unusually low basal body temperature (below 97 degrees Fahrenheit); posterior cervical adenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly, which usually disappears after the first 3 months of illness."
Source of the Whole Array of Symptoms - Immune System Hyperactivation
About immune system hyperactivation, these researchers (2) argue that "There is growing speculation that much of the morbidity of CFS - especially the fatigue, fevers, adenopathy, cognitive disorders and mood disorders - comes from a subtle, generalized chronic activation of the immune system, particularly the elaboration of several cytokines. Some preliminary data support this hypothesis."
On Possible Viral Etiologies