mycoplasma the cause of cfs?

[knackers323]

I have been readsing a lot of info relating to mycoplasma being a bio weapon (dr lo was apparntly the inventer) and being responsible for cfs. does anyone know anything about this or tested possitive to it. I have also read of many being treated for it and becoming well.

 

[paclabman]

Wiki has a good summary of mycoplasma:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoplasma_pneumoniae

Like a number of other infections, I don't know that it's "the cause". But like HHV-6, C. pneumoniae, Lyme and other things, it's a drain on the immune system and is probably a "bad actor" in ME/CFS and other things.

There is basic treatment info in the Wiki. Just personal observation, but people with "only" one of these things seem to have the best potential for improvement. People who are on the Lyme boards long term are those with a soup of infections.

There is a similar theory about Lyme escaping from a lab in CT I think. We have to deal with these things no matter where they came from. I'm not a fan of pushing conspiracy theories for these infections. Just seems to me that we have enough problems with acceptance and credibility without looking like we're part of an extreme fringe that sees conspiracies everywhere. (This is strictly a personal opinion and I'd never try to talk someone out of their favorite conspiracy theory).

 

[dannybex]

Wiki has a good summary of mycoplasma:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoplasma_pneumoniae

Like a number of other infections, I don't know that it's "the cause". But like HHV-6, C. pneumoniae, Lyme and other things, it's a drain on the immune system and is probably a "bad actor" in ME/CFS and other things.

I agree with Paclabman. Just my opinion, but I have a feeling from reading others stories, that different people will have different (and multiple) causes or triggers.

A gentleman in our local support group who has been sick for 32 years thought for sure he had mycoplasma a few years ago (when it was more in the news). When the Fibro and Fatigue clinics opened a center here about 4-5 years ago they ran dozens of tests -- he had quite a few other infections, but no mycoplasma. He's improved since then, by probably 25% -- ? -- but is still disabled.

 

[ukxmrv]

The theory has been around a long time. It's one of those protocols that many people have followed over the years to see if I could apply and many have tried treatments.

Could be another opportunistic infection for some and the only infection for others. I tend to see people who think original "this is IT" go on to be diagnosed with other infections as time goes on. Those of us who have been sick for a long time and get tested for each new possible pathogen end with a long list of things.

Sometimes people get better and speak about it. Then they relapse or don't get completely well and turn up later on another CFS forum looking at another possible cause and cure.

XMRV+

 

[Timaca]

You could get tested for it and see where you are. Focus Diagnostics is a good lab for testing. http://www.focusdx.com/focus/1-refe...p=40735&Keyword=mycoplasma pneumonia#an_40735 I do not currently have antibodies to it. I once talked with Dr. Joel Baseman's http://www.uthscsa.edu/micro/faculty/jbb/jbb.asp assistant (when I did have some antibodies) and her thought was that if you have antibody titers in the 200-300 range then there might be a possibility that mycoplasma is causing a problem. You also might want to look at this site: http://chronicfatigue.stanford.edu/

Best, Timaca

 

[undcvr]

I tested negative for it. No idea if the test was sensitive enough for it or not, another problem we have to deal with at all these commercial labs.

After holding my ebv down with AVs i was able to go chase after other things i was coinfected with.

 

[ixchelkali]

I don't think mycoplasma is the cause of ME/CFS, but it has some interesting possibilities as a co-factor with a retrovirus.

From US Patent #5242820 for mycoplasma fermentans incognitus (1993):

Coinfection with Mycoplasma fermentans (incognitus strain) enhances the ability of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) to induce cytopathic effects on human T lymphocytes in vitro. Syncytium formation of HIV-infected T cells was essentially eliminated in the presence of M. fermentans (incognitus strain), despite prominent cell death. However, replication and production of HIV-1 particles continued during the coinfection. Furthermore, the supernatant from cultures coinfected with HIV-1 and mycoplasma may be involved in the pathogenesis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Abstract from Science 251, 1074 (1991). Since the presence of M. fermentans incognitus is most often associated with AIDS and other acute fulminant disease states and more profoundly affects the course of its disease, it can be used to determine the prognosis of these diseases, which information can be utilized for designing therapy regimes. Without being bound by any proposed mechanism, it is believed that antibodies against ORF-1 ... may react against CD4.sup.+ lymphocytes resulting in an auto-antibody response against CD4 on T cells thus enhancing the cytopathic effects of HIV-1 on T cells.

Other Disease States in Which M. fermentans incognitus Has Been Implicated

In addition to AIDS, M. fermentans incognitus has been implicated in a number of other Disease states including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Wegener's Disease, Sarcoidosis, respiratory distress syndrome, Kikuchi's disease, autoimmune diseases such as Collagen Vascular Disease and Lupus, and chronic debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease. M. fermentans incognitus may be either a causative agent of these diseases or a key co-factor in these diseases.

It does seem like it would be worth investigating. And it appears Dr. Lo would be qualified to investigate it, since his name is on the patent.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...5,242,820.PN.&OS=PN/5,242,820&RS=PN/5,242,820

 

[pine108kell]

I'm not biochemist, but I think it is grossly unfair and inaccurate to say that Dr. Lo "invented" weaponized mycoplasma. My understanding is that he patented techniques for testing and isolating DNA.

It has been known for as long as I have been sick (nearly a decade) that these infections are associated with CFS but no one understands how, although I think treating can help some but definitely not the solution. It still kind of surprises me that this kind of information does not lead to more avenues of research.

I think the testing is inaccurate and expensive. The best test is for a several week course of antibiotics. I think most with chronic bacterial infections experience the herxheimer reaction.

 

[kurt]

I have been readsing a lot of info relating to mycoplasma being a bio weapon (dr lo was apparntly the inventer) and being responsible for cfs. does anyone know anything about this or tested possitive to it. I have also read of many being treated for it and becoming well.

I was tested early in my CFS by Nicolson, found negative by PCR. But a titer test was positive for mycoplasma pneumonae. So I had my whole family tested and all but one daugher had a titer. But I was the only one with CFS. Anyway, I was treated for a year, and improved the first six months, then after a year crashed terribly and have never fully recovered from that. I went to a lot of new doctors at that point, to try and figure out what went wrong. The only finding was a mild swelling of the pancreas, and that is a possible side-effect of long-term use of the antibiotic I was taking. But I also developed extreme food sensitivities, which might also have been due to gut problems.

Summary, treating mycoplasma seemed to significantly worsened my CFS. However, the timing may have been coincidental, an alternate explanation for my crash could be that I overdid things when I felt improvement from the doxycycline. So perhaps my doctor did something wrong, or maybe I pushed into the crash, I don't know, but I partly recovered by treating digestion, so believe the antibiotics really messed with my gut.

There may be something to the mycoplasma theory, in conjunction with some other factors, but this is NOT an accepted cause and treatment can be risky, as I found out.