Need assistance regarding recent LAB testings

[Mrparadise]

I just received the results from the most recent lab testing and I have three questions:

1) Are these the most suspected viruses to potentially cause or worsen ME/CFS (I already did EBV and IgG was not too high and IgM was low enough to conclude a non existant infection at the time when the testing took place)? Am I missing something that I shouls check for as well?

2) For me these findings look 'good' (all in the green range) but I am not an expert and I would love your opinion on it. Is there something abnormal with them?

3) If there is no currently active infection found (IgM), does that mean for sure that antivirals will not be helpful at all?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Hip]

They look to be all negative, except for VZV, but Dr Chia uses visual inspection to detect active VZV infections; see this post.

Dr Chia finds that the chronic coxsackievirus B or echovirus infections found in ME/CFS are only reliably detected with antibody testing using the neutralization method (rather than the complement fixation, ELISA ir IFA methods). Do you know which method your Coxsackie test used? If it was not neutralization, then according to Dr Chia you would not have been properly tested for coxsackievirus B.

 

[Mrparadise]

Thanks for your reply! I have to ask the lab which method they used. Would you say that according to the findings above, I should ask for antivirals (specifically reagarding VZV)? Is there some important Virus that I missed to check? And does low IgM means that antivirals wont help for sure?

Thanks again!

 

[Hip]

Thanks for your reply! I have to ask the lab which method they used.

I doubt it is the neutralization method, because usually with neutralization, they combine IgM and IgG together, so that you do not get two separate results. So the fact that you do have separate coxsackievirus B IgM and IgG results suggests it is not neutralization. But you might want to check with the lab.

Labs which offer neutralization tests for CVB and echovirus are detailed in this roadmap document (search the doc for coxsackievirus).

Would you say that according to the findings above, I should ask for antivirals (specifically reagarding VZV)?

To my knowledge, Dr Chia checks the skin for shingles blisters before diagnosing active VZV. See the thread.

Is there some important Virus that I missed to check?

The most important viruses and bacteria that ME/CFS specialists check for are:
coxsackievirus B
echovirus
Epstein-Barr virus
HHV-6
cytomegalovirus
parvovirus B19
Chlamydia pneumoniae

Labs where you can get tested for these are detailed in the roadmap.

And does low IgM means that antivirals wont help for sure?

This is a complex issue. Normal infectious disease specialists, when they see low IgM but high IgG will say that's just a past infection which is now dormant. By contrast, an ME/CFS specialist will view such high IgG as evidence of an active infection, and may prescribe antivirals.

But bear in mind antivirals are not some miracle fix for ME/CFS, even in patients with active infection. Antivirals may help some ME/CFS patients, but often they do not work at all.

There is even controversy as to whether there really are active infections that are causing ME/CFS.

 

[Mrparadise]

Many thanks for the informative and fast reply, @Hip!