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Today on Dr. OZ ~ EBV & Chronic exhaustion, cancer, etc.

mezombie

Senior Member
Messages
324
Location
East Coast city, USA
I should have rephrased that.

The relevance of IgG titers to current symptoms is hotly contended. It's why I put a link to the Holmes paper defining "CFS" in 1988 in my earlier post. So it's not clear that a positive IgG is evidence of a reactivated infection. Some ME/CFS clinicians and researchers are considering that it may be.

The EBV EA IgG testing is offered by Labcorp, so it can't be that unusual to request it. However, it seems somewhat pointless to do so unless your doctor understands the potential significance of the test results. There are doctors who will treat with antivirals based on postive IgG titers, but they are the mavericks.
 

KC22

Senior Member
Messages
161
Location
Ohio
Dr. Lerner is one of those mavericks. He only tests IGM and EBV EA IgG. He doesn't do the other 2 tests, VCA and EBNA, I believe. You do have to have a doctor who knows how to read the test results. For years, I did not have a doctor who knew what the numbers actually meant. I believe it is the VCA, not sure if I have that right, that can be really high, but it only tests if you have been exposed.
 

starryeyes

Senior Member
Messages
1,558
Location
Bay Area, California
A lot of us test positive for EBV IgG but not IgM (Ig=immunoglobulin; antibodies produced due to an infection). Most docs consider positive IgG simply evidence that you were exposed to EBV at some point in the past. IgM is usually positive when you have an acute infection (like a case of mono).

However, some docs, like Montoya and Learner, consider a positive IgG as evidence of a reactivated infection, especially if other parts of the immune system aren't working right (for example, you may have low NK (natural killer) cell function.

I've read elsewhere that the EBV EA (early antigen) test results at present seem to be one of the best indicators of a reactivated past infection.

(Thanks for letting me know August59 originally posted the EBV study and where to find the thread.)

Mezombie,

Thank you for posting this information. I also test postitive for a past infection but not present. But I had CFS for about 20 years at that point and it started with what was Dx as EBV and later CEBV and had all the hallmarks of it. I don't know what my titres were though and that doctor who first Dx me has passed away.

And I see what you're saying in your second post about this too. It takes a maverick to treat us properly!
 

IntuneJune

Senior Member
Messages
562
Location
NorthEastern USA
Being diagnosed with a primary immune deficiency, low IgG, IgA, IgM, I do not respond with elevated titers. I recently was tested, then given a pneumonia vaccine, then retested to see if my immune system responded.............no one was home.

June
 
Messages
24
june

Being diagnosed with a primary immune deficiency, low IgG, IgA, IgM, I do not respond with elevated titers. I recently was tested, then given a pneumonia vaccine, then retested to see if my immune system responded.............no one was home.

June

how was the vaccine given you?
 

rebecca1995

Apple, anyone?
Messages
380
Location
Northeastern US
Being diagnosed with a primary immune deficiency, low IgG, IgA, IgM, I do not respond with elevated titers. I recently was tested, then given a pneumonia vaccine, then retested to see if my immune system responded.............no one was home.

June

Hi June,

I'm curious, with those results, if you've been diagnosed with something like Common Variable Immune Deficiency or Severe Combined Immune Deficiency. I have Selective IgA Deficiency, myself.

Do you know your XMRV results? I've been kicking around the possibility that XMRV could cause antibody deficiencies because B cells are some of the cells the virus infects (according to the Science paper). I emailed the WPI a while ago to ask if they're looking for connections between XMRV and primary immune deficiencies.

I was told that the IgA deficiency is probably an inherited disorder--but both my parents have been tested, and neither of them have it. All I know is that something created a problem with my B cells.
 

justinreilly

Senior Member
Messages
2,498
Location
NYC (& RI)
Chronic EBV v. ME/CFIDS (CFS)

Hi Koan!!:D

I asked them once or twice why the doctor distinguished this diagnosis as "just" EBV and not CFS (or ME which few doctors even refer that name in the US community). She said she didn't know. They have definite issues but have a better quality of life than others I know w/ the CFS diagnosis. The one I'm closest to just got married in September and is having a difficult time adjusting.

I've always wondered what the differences are w/ all these infections. I've got EBV among other things but it wasn't discovered until years later. Is this the same virus that causes mono?

SJ

90- 95% of adults are infected with EBV. A normal immune system will keep it totally dormant. Only when you have a serious immune disease like ME (CFS) or AIDS will you get active chronic infection. It is an epiphenomenon aka opportunistic infection. Thus if you have Chronic EBV (what ME/CFIDS used to be called) and you do not have AIDS or another serious immune disease, you have ME. But, not everyone with ME has Chronic EBV. Complicating the picture is that ME is usually triggered by a viral infection, often acute EBV (Mono).