by Jody Smith Llewellyn King has been gaining quite a reputation for himself in ME/CFS circles of late. He has been a journalist, foreign correspondent, editor, creator of his own publishing group, and public speaker over his long career. And now King is an advocate for people with ME/CFS. He writes about us often on his White House Chronicle blog.
Continueby Cort Johnson “Other patients suffer a severe, long lasting illness, for which treatment is ineffectual, and even after the parasite has finally been eliminated, some sequelae persist, affecting quality of life and continuing to cause the patient discomfort or pain” (LJ Robertson et al, 2010) Giardia is an interesting bug. Perhaps the most common intestinal parasite in developing areas,
Continueby Cort Johnson Before XMRV was Kogelnik/Montoya…the 2006 unblinded Kogelnik/Montoya study, finding that 6 months of Valcyte use returned 75% of participants to full health, hit the community like a lightning bolt. Yes, the study was very small (12 people) and it was unblinded, but the stories of recovery were so dramatic that it was hard to imagine they hadn’t
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Posted by Cort Johnson (Outbreaks of ‘CFS’ do happen but they are rarely documented now. In this article, Oceanblue from the Phoenix Rising Forums, examines a Giardia outbreak in Norway which resulted, years later, with a significant number of people suffering from a chronic fatigue/pain condition- CJ.) A new study reports at least 5% of patients with CFS nearly 3
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Posted by Cort Johnson Just fours days after the editors of Science took it upon themselves to retract the 2008 Science paper, Lo/Alter, the authors of the FDA study at one time championed as proof that a family of XMRV-like viruses was present in ME/CFS, have retracted their PNAS findings as well. In their conclusion to be published next week
ContinuePosted by Cort Johnson (My apologies! (Another CFS moment…) The last blog contained a draft on the first story – not the completed version. Thanks for your patience….) When it rains it pours. Events regarding XMRV, Dr. Mikovits and the WPI have come hot and heavy during the last week. WPI’s Civil Lawsuit Against Dr. Mikovits – First some background. Dr.
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Posted by Cort Johnson In Part II of the XMRV section of the conference we look at the Coffin/Mikovits presentations, Hanson’s update on her XMRV work and look at the recent XMRV research findings. The pMLVs Strike Out – Hanson Disavows Former Results “The sensitivity of the PCR assays used requires extreme caution in interpreting results Dr. Maureen Hanson” Background
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Posted by Cort Johnson Pt. IA: XMRV: the Big Test – the Blood Working Study (Taken From the Ottawa Conference/CFIDS Association Webinar) The Blood Working Group was a large group (25) made of federal officials from various agencies (CDC, NIH, FDA), the Red Cross, several laboratories including the WP, several Universities and put together just a month after the XMRV
ContinuePosted by Cort Johnson The Mikovits era at the WPI was turbulent one, filled with almost Shakespearean highs and lows. With the discovery of XMRV she helped bring a degree of excitement and attention to the chronic fatigue syndrome field it never seen before. It was and is an turbulent time, and perhaps fittingly her departure was a turbulent one
ContinuePosted by Cort Johnson Dr. Cheney was an enthusiastic supporter of the XMRV finding early on; he did a webcast on it and several blogs, suggested treatments and provided patients for the WPI to study. In this post from Jan Van Roijen on Co-cure Dr. Cheney reveals the latest on the Lipkin study from a conference call with Dr. Lipkin.
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Posted by Cort Johnson The National Cancer Institute jumped in early on the XMRV discovery and has probably funded more research into the retrovirus than any other Institute but two weeks ago they were the first NIH Institute to definitively say that XMRV did not play a role in CFS or prostate cancer. Now the NIH’s update of their website
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Posted by Cort Johnson Annette Whittemore on Nevada Newsmakers. Looking calm and composed Annette Whittemore stated that she had been prepared for negative studies in this field but not for a stream of negative studies using protocols that were different from those used in the Lombardi study. (This must have been difficult to watch but was probably inevitable as researchers
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