LEST WE FORGET
CDC -- THOSE WITH CFIDS: "PRUDENT TO REFRAIN FROM DONATING BLOOD"
The two attached letter copies point indisputably--as far back as early 1992--towards the government's determination that the American blood supply, via blood transfusions, might prove to be one of the main transmission routes of Chronic Fatigue/Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). Both letters--one composed by William C. Reeves, M. D., at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the other, by George W. Rutherford, then head of Infectious Diseases for the California Department of Health--were replies to my inquiry (which documents some of my immunilogical AIDS-like test results, while I was under the care of Daniel L. Peterson, M. D., of Incline Village, Nevada) about the safety of the blood supply, were I, a well-documented CFIDS patient, to donate blood.
These communiques were sent on 6/13/92 to about a dozen national news agencies. Shortly thereafter, on one day alone, the CDC received over 300 media calls regarding CFIDS contagion. Reeves, unfortunately--and questionably--was not on hand that day to address the queries of the press. Despite so, the contents of the letters were publicly aired on many southern California TV stations and in publications, one being an article by Jean Griffin of The Chicago Tribune.
However, on the 3/27/96 edition of Prime Time Live, Reeves--who along with Stephen Straus, head of CFIDS research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), refused to be interviewed--stated by telephone that CFS "is not caused by a virus"; that there are/were "NO cluster outbreaks," labeling the one at Lake Tahoe as "hysteria"; and that CFS "does NOT affect the immune system."
It is intersting to note that also during Prime Time Live, Phillip Lee, Assistant Secretary of Health, in effect, disputed Reeves' statements, pointing out he believes there "are cluster [CFIDS] breakouts" and that he guesses the disease "is caused by a retrovirus of some type of virus."
Even though I'd long previously to 6/13/92 mailed letter copies to the CFIDS Association in Charlotte, NC, not one iota of their contents were published in the association's quarterly journal The CFIDS Chronicle. In fact, the day the news hit, Kimberly Kenney, current treasurer of the organization, telephoned. "He [Reeves] really stuck his neck out on this one," she said, further stating it would do him no justice to continue sending out further letter copies--that it would prove too embarrassing to the CDC.
I now know that this was ONE instance in which the government was actually doing its job by telling the truth. My point here is that, in many's opinions, the CFIDS Association is now--for whatever possible reason--trying, along with the government, to squelch the reality of CFIDS. This organization, I would hope, would be approached cautiously and with this knowledge.
Today, more evidence supporting CFIDS contagion--in the form of over 50 peer-reviewed articles in the medical literature and targeted viruses--has been gathered. This evidence was discovered and properly documented by our top national scientific researchers. In fact, in 1995, the CDC listed CFIDS as a "Number 1 Priority Infectious Disease." This classification has not changed.
The CDC may attempt to discredit these letter contents, claiming them "{bogus." (I do have the originals and can prove their hertiage.) Or the agency may try to wiggle out, purporting something like, "In 1992, we thought the possibility that CFS could be contagious might have existed. Since then, however, we've found no evidence to prove this and [blah, blah, blah], so, therefore, this issue has been resolved." The real situation is way to the contrary.
In 1987, I had two blood transfusions while in surgery for a shattered hip and femur. The next day I came down with a serious bodily infection which could not be traced at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento; instead of being hospitalized for the estimated three days, I spent 14 recuperating. When I left, I still had a temperature of 99 degrees, a temperature that still continues to haunt me. I've yet to recover from CFIDS and because I've been sick with this disease for almost nine years, my chances of recovery are nil. Easily and inexpensively, the blood supply could be checked to help prevent further CFIDS cases. These tests, while not totally tell-tale, would certainly be a high indication of CFIDS or some other viral illness, and thus, any blood showing abnormal antibody titer counts for Epstein-Barr virus, Cytomgelavirus, Human Herpes virus VI, and/or the Coxsackie strains, could simply be pulled from the blood supply.
Why did the CDC tell me, a lone individual suffering from CFIDS, one thing, while telling the public completely the opposite? To avoid panic? Informing the public, "If you have CFIDS or think you MAY have CFIDS, do not donate blood until the issue of possible blood contagion has been resolved," would serve only to dispel panic. Otherwise, we wonder, "What is so tremendously secretive that the CDC is trying so desperately to hide?" The NIH and the CDC have successfully made CFIDS a political issue, rather than what it is: A bona fide and perhaps very infectious disease. Please, please, try to help prevent millions more from getting this disease, which is quite literally, a "living hell."
(From a press release sent to press agencies on 5/5/96.)
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(Note: original documents scanned and converted to gif format)
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Please direct your Questions to:
Center for Disease Control
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
United States of America
CDC: Centers for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov
http://wonder.cdc.gov
http://wwwonder.cdc.gov
http://atsdrl.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080
or Email: your Congressional Representative and/or contact any of the Major News Agencies
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH INTERNET SITES
House of Representatives WWW Constituent E-Mail Addresses
United States Senate WWW Constituent E-Mail Addresses
President Clinton Email:
president@whitehouse.gov Check out these other related sites
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
CFS News
Stealth virus
NIH: National Institute of Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Last updated 5/25/96
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