Posted by Cort Johnson Dr. Montoya runs the Infectious Disease Clinic at Stanford University. His 50 plus publications have focused on wide range of pathogens including toxoplasma, encephalomyelitis, herpesvirus 6, cytomegalovirus, acanthoamoeba, and many more etc. A preliminary study several years ago suggesting that antiviral therapy returned a large percentage of the recipients to health sent a jolt through the
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Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) Research
XMRV Buzz: Racaniello Retracts/Miller Jumps In/Retrovirologist ‘Superteam’ To Form…
Posted by Cort Johnson Dr. Racaniello Retracts Statement About XMRV and CFS – showing an admirable commitment to the pursuit of the truth Dr Racaniello made an abrupt about face regarding his statement that the four papers were ‘probably the beginning of the end of XMRV and CFS’. His new blog “XMRV and CFS- It’s Not the End’ paints a
ContinueXMRV Buzz (Dec 21st): The Retrovirology Papers Day II
Posted by Cort Johnson The Retrovirology Papers: Day Two – Not surprisingly the media jumped on the titillating but wrong story and stated XMRV was done and that it was not the cause of ME/CFS. XMRV certainly did take a hit, yesterday, but several important names, particularly Dr. Coffin – who was a co-author of two of the papers ,
ContinueWPI Responds to Concerns About Contamination
Posted by Cort Johnson The WPI response to the Papers Published in Retrovirology The Lombardi et al. and Lo et al. studies were done using four different methods of detection. They were not simply PCR experiments, as were the studies by McClure et al. and others who have recently reported their difficulties with contamination. Experienced researchers such as Mikovits, Lombardi,
ContinueRetrovirology Publishes Five Articles on XMRV and Contamination
Posted by Cort Johnson Retrovirology Journal Publishes Four Studies on XMRV and Contamination Retrovirology today published four studies that focus on the contamination issue with XMRV. None of them are definitive, and none of them demonstrate that contamination resulted in the findings of the original paper, but they do indicate how careful researchers have to be when they explore this
ContinueA Drug for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)? The Rituximab Story
Posted by Cort Johnson Could the first drug for ME/CFS be a chemotherapeutic drug? That would sound like a long shot at best but the fact is a two physicians in Norway are having surprising success with a drug originally developed to treat cancer. Their Story Dr. Fluge and Dr. Olav Mella of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, began
ContinueXMRV Buzz (12/11) – BWG Finally Reports/CFIDS Webinar/Spain Pt II/Huber Study Soon/Alter Study…
Posted by Cort Johnson Phase II of BWG Study is Complete (Really!) – The CFIDS Association today announced that the oh so important (and time consuming) second section of the BWG’s study focusing on sample preparation and sample storage is complete and that the results will be announced at the BWG’s meeting, just 3 days from now (Dec 14th) (gulp).
ContinueXMRV Buzz – The Buzz From Spain, Dr. Mikovits Branches Out
Posted by Cort Johnson The Buzz From Spain – Cristina Montane relayed a report from Dr. Julia Blanco on the meeting. Dr. Blanco first noted the usual on XMRV: that the problematic methodologies being used impair detection, contamination could be possible for some results, the polytropic MLV findings and the need to assess anti-retroviral effectiveness. ((editorial) With regards to contamination
ContinueOf Mice and Men: The X-MLV’s and XMRV
Posted by Cort Johnson With no less than four XMLV publications under her belt during the last 14 months Kozak is the premier XMRV evolutionary biologist. Her latest paper is a review of her and others work on murine leukemia retrovirus (MLV) evolution that delineates where contamination could come from and where it could not come from. A Hot Item!
ContinueFirst ME/CFS Ad Now Running in the Washington Post!
Posted by Cort Johnson ME/CFS is hitting the lawmakers in Washington DC right in the chops today with a provocative half page ad suggesting that everybody, healthy or not, is put at risk when the federal government ignores ME/CFS. The ad has been the fruit of months of work from people with ME/CFS, the MWPCA and PANDORA. The MWPCA has
ContinueXMRV Buzz (12/3) – correction
Posted by Cort Johnson Some information on the former post was incorrect – here are the corrected sections. The Red Cross Ban leaves the FDA and the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) looking a little isolated, what with Canada, Australia the UK and now the biggest single blood donation organization in the US, all turning their thumbs down on
ContinueXMRV Buzz (12/3) – Red Cross Ban (and Patient Campaign Blood Ban) Plus All the Studies Fit to Print
Posted by Cort Johnson American Red Cross Says No to Possibly Dangerous ME/CFS Blood – Citing recent studies suggesting that XMRV may, in fact, really be present in CFS, the American Red Cross banned people with ME/CFS from donating blood. Why does a Red Cross ban of CFS blood make the newspapers? Because, as the Red Cross website puts it
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