Abide

CDC on CFS

lydiajen at LiveJournal's CFIDS and M.E. Support Community points to a very interesting CDC press briefing on their recent CFS research. I've selected some comprehensible to non-scientist me excerpts [all emphases mine]:

CFS/M.E./M.S./Epilepsy?

From U.S. Newswire:

Potential Animal (Zoonotic) Virus Identified in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy

NEEDHAM, Mass., May 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Recent independent scientific research funded by the National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. (NCF) of Needham, MA provided preliminary confirmation of a new virus identified in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The Foundation's medical research dovetails with that completed to date by Cryptic Afflictions, LLC (1), a private company.

Dr. Steven J. Robbins, virologist and Chief Executive Officer of Cryptic Afflictions, LLC has discovered a major neuropathogen identified as an RNA virus designated as Cryptovirus. Substantial clinical and molecular evidence indicates that this virus is involved in the development of neurological disorders that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) by the World Health Organization, Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and Idiopathic Epilepsy of unknown cause.

. . .

Dr. Robbins' evidence includes the presence of virus-specific antibodies in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients suffering from these disorders, the ability of the virus to cause virtually identical disease in experimentally-infected animals, and nucleotide sequence data that indicates that the virus is pandemic and represents a single virus species much like measles.

. . .

As usual, it's difficult for a non-scientist to interpret this research, or to make any assessment of its potential importance -- but a virus has always been suspected.

A not entirely gratuitous cat post

ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION!  The Carnival of the Cats will be at Catcall next Sunday, and Laurence is planning a Carnival of the Cats #102 raffle:

I'd really like to make this a big carnival this time around to celebrate the fact that catblogging has gotten its paw in the door with the MSM here with a Chronicle.Community readerblog.

If there's over 100 sites submitting catblogging posts to the Carnival of the Cats this week, I'll raffle out four special cat-related gifts among the lucky participants.

So here is another cat post, pushing toward that hundred.

But I also have a relevant link, via inkyCIRCUS -- Brain injury may cause chronic fatigue:

By Helen Carter | ABC Science Online

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) might be caused by a temporary 'brain injury' during the early, inflammatory stages of glandular fever, according to Australian scientists.

"We believe that parts of the brain which control perception of fatigue and pain are damaged during the acute infection phase of glandular fever," says lead researcher, Professor Andrew Lloyd from the University of New South Wales.

The researchers, who publish their study this week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, believe the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever, might trigger CFS in some people.
. . .
The scientists found the virus itself does not cause this ongoing fatigue but they hypothesise that a 'hit and run' brain injury does.
. . .
The study is the first to follow patients within a few weeks of acute glandular fever infection for a year.
. . .
The scientists will test their hypothesis by doing brain scans on study participants.

I've seen hypotheses about Epstein-Barr before, but none that have been validated by research. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this one.

Chronic Fatigue is Real!

Are you surprised?

Researchers might have found evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real and legitimate neurological condition.

A pilot study published in the open access journal BMC Neurology reveals that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a set of proteins in their spinal cord fluid that were not detected in healthy individuals. These proteins might give insight into the causes of CFS, and could be used as markers to diagnose patients with CFS.

James Baraniuk and Begona Casado, from Georgetown University in the US, and colleagues from other institutions in the US and Italy, studied the content of the spinal cord fluid, or 'cerebrospinal fluid', in CFS patients and healthy individuals. This fluid can be tested for the diagnosis of various neurological diseases and infections. The researchers identified 16 proteins that can be found in patients with CFS but not in healthy individuals. Five of these proteins are found in all CFS patients but none of the controls. They could be a 'biosignature' for the disease, which could be used to diagnose it.

This is a pilot study, but Baraniuk et al. conclude that "this is the first predictive model of chronic fatigue syndrome to be based only on objective data". They add: "Given the controversy over whether CFS and its allied syndromes are legitimate medical conditions, our model provides initial objective evidence for the legitimacy of CSF as a distinct neurological disease."

Many of the proteins found in CFS patients are involved in protein folding and in various neurological syndromes, which might give clues regarding the origin of chronic fatigue syndrome.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcneurol/

A Hole in the Clouds?

Somewhat desperate, I went to the doctor today, and he said he might actually have something that could help. He's very encouraged by the research and his own patients' experience. So, my own Cymbalta trial begins today. I'll keep you posted; anyone else tried it yet?

[Yes, I know that's not a cloud photo, but it's today's photo.]