Research Brief
Research just published in the journal Virus Adaptation and Treatment shows a relationship between herpesviruses and chronic fatigue syndrome and also offers a treatment.
Along with many other researchers, Dr. A. Martin Lerner long suspected that the herpes family of viruses -- including Epstein-Barr (EBV), human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) -- played an important causal role in a subgroup of people with chronic fatigue syndrome. A host of research has failed to establish a clear connection, but many people in the chronic fatigue syndrome community believed it was because subjects aren't put into proper subgroups.
In his practice, Dr. Lerner saw these viruses in a large percentage of his patients. He spent 6 years collecting data from blood work and treatment progress, and the newly published research is the result.
For this study, participants were broken down into different groups -- those with a herpesvirus only, and those with a herpesvirus plus a co-infection. In both groups, those with EBV were treated with Valtrex (valacyclovir) and those with HHV6 or CMV were given Valcyte (valganciclovir).
The Results
In the herpesvirus-only group, 74.5% of participants returned to a normal or near-normal active lifestyle. Cardiac, immune system and cognitive symptoms improved or disappeared, according to researchers.
In the herpesvirus+co-infection group, improvement was far less significant, demonstrating that co-infection can complicate treatment. Dr. Lerner noted that people in this group also began the study with more severe symptoms.
This study provides compelling evidence for the role of herpesviruses in chronic fatigue syndrome and also for treatment with anti-viral medications that target herpesviruses. Many doctors don't test for EBV, HHV6 and CMV, so you may want to alert your doctor to these findings.
Here's the full text of the study: Subset-directed antiviral treatment of 142 herpesvirus patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Has your doctor found evidence of any of these viruses in your system? Have you been treated with anti-virals? Have you had trouble getting a doctor to test you or treat you? Leave your comments below!
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I tested positive for HCMV and HHV6. My doctor has me take something called transfer factor along with a few other supplements and prescribes azithromycin which is an antibiotic but as I understand it also has some anti viral properties. I have had some improvement but am a long way from being well. I’ll go to my next visit armed with this study and see where it goes. Does anyone know if a doctor can even prescribe these meds?
I have EBV but I’ll keep taking my vitamins, super nutrients and overcoming CFS with behavior changes rather than risk further headaches, depression, diarrhea and liver damage from Valtrex. Scary stuff!
@dave,
To answer your question, yes, doctors can prescribe both. They are considered “off label” treatments, but it’s completely above board to prescribe for these. I’m on both and have not had any serious complications.
If you’re positive for HCMV & HHV6 you’d only need Valcyte. Valtrex is for EBV only.
If you have any other questions, I’m happy to share my experience off line…
I spoke to my GP about this today and he said that nearly 100% of the human population from 2yrs onwards have the HHV6 virus in their system so this confuses me now!! He said no point to get tested because it would show up positive in anyone tested. Do you understand it better to explain to the brain-fogged long time sufferer of CFS?!!
At my sickest, I had multiple viruses: EBV, CMV, HHV-6 and another one. This was 1990 and there were no anti-virals then. If they had been around, I would have taken them in an attempt to try to stop my life rolling downhill into the proverbial gutter. With no help, I was so ill for 15 years! Now, I’m better and I take very few drugs because I feel great. As the host of the Health Matters Show, I suggest that people try many tactics to get well, but, like I said…. I would have tried anti-virals then if I had had them. I don’t believe that anyone can ever walk in someone else’s shoes, nor should they try. YOU are the one who has to live in your body, with the consequences of what you do and with your illness.
I am one of Dr. Lerner’s patients and in the lucky 75% who is responding to treatment. It’s not just the presence of HHV6 but the level of the virus (or antibioties to it)–just like everyone carries mono but not everyone has active mono. I put off taking Valcyte for a long time, but I wish I had started sooner. I’ve had no adverse reactions, no toxicity, and I’m much better off now than I was 6 months ago when I started taking it. Then I was in bed more often than not and had the usual list of symptoms. I’m not ‘cured’ but I’m also not done with treatment. Now, on my good days, I feel nearly normal with just a short mid-day nap. On my bad days, I might need a longer nap or just to stay in. I’m rarely stuck in bed. In addition to following Dr. Lerner’s protocol, I’m also taking supplements, doing yoga (as able), have a strict diet, and getting massage and physical therapy (MAT). I was doing all of these things prior to Valcyte, and, while they helped, they only took me so far. I feel extremely blessed to be one of Dr. Lerner’s patients, and I hope this research is taken seriously. It was great to finally be able to hand something to my parents (who have been skeptical of my illness) and say “here is what I have.” I think they finally get it.
funny how this study does not show any co-infection reported by statton or the nicolson’s and also the use of doxycicline! a clear indication of how flawed this study actually is and still no medical science proof of ebv, cmv, or hhv-6 as the culprit(s). it clearly also shows that this paper does not prove anything as a major breakthrough. also the authors mention other co-infections they are attempting to treat in these patients! another item that really opened my eyes was the fact that the beginning of the paper tries to clearly states that the authors did not recieve any grants from any pharmaceutical house and this as i see it is totally understandable because no drug company would ever get involved with any researchers who were using a large amount of different drugs in a new study like this! last what really got my attention was the fact that this dr. lerner et al have a vested interest in supposed patents that have found! from what i can see there are no patents to be found because all of these findings are old methods that have been already used in medicine for years! the difference with this study and the stratton/nicolson’s patents is they have new sensitive methods by p.c.r. to detect mycoplasma and c. pn. and this is a good reason why this paper should send off alarm bells! if you also notice the authors do talk about these patients taking in daily large amounts of water and i am 100% convinced these patients while at home put salt on their foods and consumed salt on a regular basis! also everyone when reading this paper remember also that all of these patients who were given antivirals were also given i.v. salines which carries a teaspoon and a half of salt! did these patients actually get better by increasing their blood volumes and re-hydrations over long periods? my final question is this and it very seriously must be fully addressed and could explain the reasons why some people got well by the johns hopkins studies back in 1995 and could have done better if they were given the complete right way of correcting severe hypotension in cfs? is it possible that cfs is severe chronic unintentional dehydration and this is the main and complete reason why our defense immune system turns on and does not turn off activating old virus antibodies? this could be why these patients got well as they all were severely cronically dehydrated? i now call on any and all serious researchers in cfs to take a very serious look at what the iranian doctor discovered years back and he was blocked by those idiots at the n.i.h. please! this has to be addressed and fully looked at! http://www.watercure.com thanks aidan walsh southampton, united in the kingdom… p.s. n.i.h. is a very corrupt institution and is about time its doors are close for good!
Interesting response. I can only add, again, that I am one of Dr. Lerner’s patients. I tried EVERYTHING including water therapy before going to Dr. Lerner. I was able to raise my blood pressure before going to Dr. Lerner with salt and water, but I did not get better. (Prior to getting ill I was a long-distance runner, so I knew how to hydrate and use electrolytes, sodium, etc.) I have not increased my sodium or my water under treatment with Dr. Lerner. You say all the patients had sodium IVs–no patient I have met since the advent of Valcyte tablets has had an IV. I certainly have not. During my treatment on Valcyte, I went from not being able to get out of bed to being able to be up and about nearly every day. I even took my two active boys hiking yesterday–something that would have been unthinkable last summer. For me, there is no other explanation for my improvement. Yes, this research is by no means complete–there was no placebo, there was no accounting given for other things his patients tired (like supplements, yoga, water, etc). However, it is significant, and I hope it reignites attention to this devastating disease for which people are told over and over again in doctor offices all over the world that there is no treatment–or worse, for the people who fall prey to expensive internet scams that falsely promise cures. For me and the dozens of people like me who I meet in Dr. Lerner’s waiting room, this has been nothing short of a miracle.
amy, thanks for your comments and also correcting me on the i.v. salines… i hope you get a complete recovery from this living hell… best wishes and health aidan…p.s.i still feel there is something to the water/salt protocol…
i also forgot to mention is a lot of these drugs that are used in chronic illnesses are histamine type medicines and a lot of steroids such as prednisone and antiviral medicines are what are histamine type meds. histamine type drugs work directly on the brains water mechanisms, in other words they are actually improving the bodies shortage of water fluids which makes people feel better! it is identical to when a person suffers from a severe headache and takes pain pills such as tylenol or aspirins! what people do not understand is this! is it really the aspirin that was helping the headache or was it really the glass of water that was giving relief to the headache? as we age also our thirst mechanisms work less and our signals seem to tell us we are hungry even late at night but it is actually our bodies cry for water! even when our mouth is dry and we feel thirsty, the sign of our dry mouths is a sign that comes to late as we are already in a state of chronic dehydration! what i would love to see is some of these cfs researchers look at the bloods of marathon runners who are finishing a marathon but are collapsing with running and or heat exhaustion and i am convinced their immune profiles are identical to cfs or even marine emergencies where someone is plucked from the ocean and clinging to life from lack of proper fluids! last i want to say is it is extremely futile that the real 92 minerals of celtic sea salt is applied in cfs patients and not the garbage table salts or gatorade useless hypes to these patients! remember 75% of our bodies is water which also means by truly correcting this 75% of water the right way and avoid entirely the junk like coffee, tea and sodas and yes even juices and gatorades we are giving back our bodies what we truly are lacking!for everytime we breathe our lungs are pushing water fluids out of our bodies and bear this also in mind that each day these people lie in bed and not drink for hours at all we are losing out on these vital fluids! if your body weight is 200 pounds your amount of ounces per day is half of your body weight in ounces of water. at this rate you would need to consume 100 ounces everyday day in and day out! also for everytime you reach for the garbage fluids you must increase your water intake as these garbage coffees are depleting diuretics and only causing you more harm! the iranian doctors favorite saying was this! “you are not sick, you are thirsty” it would not surprise me that a lot of cfs epidemics occured in hot summer humid climates and it is possible the hospital staff epidemics could possibly have happened to overworked long hour staffs on minimal diets and sleep and high intakes of coffees and tea which pushed them all to dehydrated states! as far as the nih/cdc and pharmaceuticals are concerned is their useless histamine drugs are total money gimics and all they all are is “legalized mafias”… do all yourselves serious favors and get away from these idiots and turn your taps on and drink some healthy vital water and tell them all to take their drugs and shove them up their asses! also 40% of bottled water is mafia tap water and on top of that these waters in plastic bottles are unhealthy for your body! get yourself just a normal filter for your taps and drink but try to stay towards consuming room temperature water as it will not schock your systems… gods blesses to all of you and let us all pray that the nih/cdc go completely out of businees with their scams/histamine drugs… take care and get better… http://www.watercure.com atleast this site does not sell you products like these vitamin scams preying on cfs patients and do nothing but put holes in your pockets! be wise and please try and spend some time on this site as you have nothing to loose! “do not consume more than 2 glasses of water every 3 hours as it could be “dangerous” if you do!” take your time with this as it does take time to correct–chronic unintentional dehydration– best wishes aidan walsh southampton, united in the kingdom……
There is a wealth of info at this link for Newcastle University. They have sub groups or have identified five types of CFS. There is too much here for me to pinpoint exactly where it is but it is here, is all I can say. Connecting of information is important. Enjoy!
http://google.newcastle.edu.au/search?q=chronic+fatigue+syndrome+research&btnG=Search&entqr=0&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&output=xml_no_dtd&client=default_frontend&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection
post #7 Aiden Walsh writes:
“i am 100% convinced these patients while at home put salt on their foods and consumed salt on a regular basis! also everyone when reading this paper remember also that all of these patients who were given antivirals were also given i.v. salines which carries a teaspoon and a half of salt!”
The first part of this statement is pure speculation. The second is completely false. Valcyte and Valtrex are taken in oral form, not IV.
HI Amy, I am so glad to hear you are getting your quality of life back from the livinghell of these illnesses. I have been struggling for years, but have maintained function until the past few years with alternative tx and a regimen. One thing, PT has been very helpful to me in it’s various aspects, including different therapists. Could you please explain the technique you use: MAT?
Thankyou – keep getting better!
regarding m (12) comment re; comment 7… amy corrected me on the i.v. not used! but, if you go back to this paper there were patients who were given i.v. with antibiotics and other meds. also the doctor does stipulate in this protocol to all patients to increase daily their water fluid intakes! if you also go back and read this paper you will also see they talk in depth about syncope previously diagnosed in these patients and anyone by now with any common sense knows what is used in syncope or hypotension and that is increasing one’s intake of salt and also adding to foods. yes, i may have been wrong about i.v. in all these patients in this study but the fact is this and it is not false, patents were on increase water/salt which proves the unscientific values of this paper and has no scientific merit or any medical breakthrough! i would like you to answer this question, why were a % of people from johns hopkins tilt table studies back in ‘95 completely recovered from cfs. also, last is this; for i do not know how many years have they studied viruses and infections or activations and no science to this date has shown any complete 100% proof of any infection cause or role in cfs. now we have xmrv in the news and another waste of time…. http://www.watercure.com cfs is “severe chronic unintentional dehydration” histamine medicines are gimics, throw your pills down the toilet and drink water and get some real celtic sea salt 92 minerals and get away from the cfids doctors who cannot get out of bed themselves… a total cfids clown circus…
Amy, Thanks for your report. I hope you’ll continue letting us know how your treatments with Dr. Lerner are going. I’ve just started seeing him. I’ll see him in a few weeks for the results of my tests and a treatment plan.
Good luck — and thanks again.