XMRV A WAY AROUND THE POLITICS OF LYME DISEASE AND ME/CFS

So much has been happening I am not sure what to blog about and what to leave out so I will list a few things.

Lannie in the Lyme light reporting back on PART 1: 1/17/11 XMRV presentation by Dr. Judy Mikovits and Annette Whittemore
'In the research she had performed, simply trying to help her daughter, she saw the glaring similarities amongst CFS, Fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome, Autism, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons. These neuro-immune dysfuctions were common in families and in geographical cohorts. They knew they had something very important on their hands, and they’ve been committed to the neuro-immune cause ever since'

PART 2: 1/17/11 XMRV presentation by Dr. Judy Mikovits and Annette Whittemore
As a Chronic Lyme Disease patient, I found it very interesting that much of this conversation seemed to go back to Lyme again and again. During the presentation and the Q&A session. In the presentation they referenced a study where 65 Chronic Lyme Disease patients were tested for XMRV, and 100% came back positive. This was the most reactive group the WPI has seen. That is a higher rate than ME/CFS! I thought Annette Whittemore said it best, “Every time we hear something new about XMRV, we find a similar finding within Lyme. It’s amazing!"

Paula Carnes on Testing Negative staying positive

If you have any of these labels you may find you are XMRV positive: Lyme, MS, Parkinsons, ALS, peripheral neuropathy, autonomic neuropathy, dementia or Gulf War Illness.
http://paulacarnes.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/testing-negative-staying-positive/

XMRV Could Likely Be an emerging zoonotic disease
http://cfidsresearch.blogspot.com/2011/01/xmrv-could-likely-be-emerging-zoonotic.html

Early Events in Retrovirus XMRV Infection of the Wild-Derived Mouse Mus pahari

These data support the use of Mus pahari as a model for XMRV pathogenesis and as a platform for vaccine and drug development against this potential human pathogen.

http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/3/1205?ct=ct

I can't quite get my head around this following research. Why such a push for a vaccine when they still can't test properly for what the infections are, seems something dodgy to me, what are they frightened of?


A new approach to a lyme disease vaccine.
Livey I, O'Rourke M, Traweger A, Savidis-Dacho H, Crowe BA, Barrett PN, Yang X, Dunn JJ, Luft BJ.
Baxter Innovations GmbH, Biomedical Research Center, Orth an der Donau, Austria. ian.livey@baxter.com
Abstract
A single recombinant outer surface protein A (OspA) antigen designed to contain protective elements from 2 different OspA serotypes (1 and 2) is able to induce antibody responses that protect mice against infection with either Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (OspA serotype-1) or Borrelia afzelii (OspA serotype-2). Protection against infection with B burgdorferi ss strain ZS7 was demonstrated in a needle-challenge model. Protection against B. afzelii species was shown in a tick-challenge model using feral ticks. In both models, as little as .03 μg of antigen, when administered in a 2-dose immunization schedule with aluminum hydroxide as adjuvant, was sufficient to provide complete protection against the species targeted. This proof of principle study proves that knowledge of protective epitopes can be used for the rational design of effective, genetically modified vaccines requiring fewer OspA antigens and suggests that this approach may facilitate the development of an OspA vaccine for global use.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21217174

Perhaps the most positive take home from all of this was included in Lannie in the Lyme light's second presentation where she quotes Judy Mikovits over the question of politics- Very confidently, and quickly she retorted, “I think the politics will go away shortly.”

A video will shortly be available on the WPI website of their presentations.