The talk was titled, “Now for Something Completely Different: A microbe hunter turns to ME/CFS”. Except that Ian Lipkin is not just any microbe hunter: for many people, he’s THE microbe hunter.
Will the CDC listen to the pre-eminent virus hunter in the world about ME/CFS?
Internationally known for his breakthrough work on Bornavirus, SARS, MERS, tick-borne illnesses, and others, and his recent work on acute flaccid myelitis, Lipkin is the perfect person to spread the word on chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The CDC are his kind of people, after all. Early in his career, he (unsuccessfully) applied to work at the CDC, and he’s worked with many CDC researchers since then. Best known for its work on infectious diseases, the CDC was founded in 1946 to study malaria. (Its headquarters were in Atlanta because malaria was endemic there.) Its Biosafety Level 4 labs that deal with the most dangerous pathogens are the most secure in the world, and contain one of the two official repositories of smallpox in the world.
So, having the world’s best known microbe hunter come to speak must been a treat.
The big question hanging over the audience must have been why in the world would a world famous microbe hunter turn to the much maligned ME/CFS? Let’s hope they were sincerely asking themselves that question. Lipkin is clearly more interested in ME/CFS than the CDC is at this point.
The CDC’s ME/CFS program has been around for decades but the CDC isn’t providing a fraction of the support it could. So far as I can tell, funding has basically been frozen for years. (A recent attempt to increase it failed.) Thirty-plus years after the CDC took on ME/CFS, and almost 15 years since the CDC’s leader, Dr. Julie Gerberding, announced to the world that ME/CFS was a real and serious disease, ME/CFS remains locked in the doldrums there. The CDC may say ME/CFS is serious but they’re not walking their talk.
If anyone could open the CDC’s ears about ME/CFS, it might be Ian Lipkin.
Invited by Elizabeth Unger, Lipkin first whipped through a few of the disease outbreaks he’s been involved in recently. His reach is clearly enormous and his frequent flier miles must be out of this world. Lipkin talked about work with Tiliapia in Israel, an encephalitis outbreak in Uttar Pradesh, India, a measles outbreak in Mumbai, India, HIV in South Africa. When I briefly contacted him recently, he was in Egypt on another hunt.
Then he was onto ME/CFS.
ME/CFS – A Serious, Common and Expensive Disorder – Get It?
Lipkin described a common, serious and expensive disorder and noted that CDC researchers played a critical role in his early Bornavirus work in ME/CFS in 1995 – work which failed to link the virus to the disease – but which did find evidence of something called ‘non-specific polyclonal B-activation“.
Lipkin’s (underfunded) NIH ME/CFS research center network.
One of the first immune abnormalities found in ME/CFS, non-specific polyclonal activation occurs when B-cells pump out wide range of antibodies – just not to an identified pathogen. That process increases the risk of having an autoimmune disorder.
Noting for the first, but not the last, time something that has clearly bugged him for years and he’s not shy at all about sharing – Lipkin stated that the NIH ME/CFS centers are not nearly as well funded as they should be. Then he quickly ran through his past findings in ME/CFS.
They included the dramatic cytokine differences between early and later duration patients, the ME/CFS and MS cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) which found significant alterations in cytokines and chemokines in both diseases, and the two large microbiome studies. (Hmm…MS – significant changes to CSF cytokines; ME/CFS – significant changes to CSF cytokines…MS – well-funded, serious disease – ME/CFS – ?????)
The two microbiome studies found 15 key bacterial types – one of which included the dreaded Clostridia species – and which found reduced numbers of the gut-protecting butyrate producers in ME/CFS. (We don’t know which Clostridia spp. are present in ME/CFS and not all Clostridia are pathogenic, but some are very pathogenic; i.e. the increased Clostridia were a red flag.)
Those bugs, plus a reduction in healthy butyrate producers, appeared to set the stage for an inflammatory gut, a leaky gut, the transmission of gut bacteria into the blood – and a systemic immune response in ME/CFS. Since then, Lipkin has found significant differences in the metabolomics of ME/CFS patients with and without gut issues – suggesting that different disease processes are occurring in the two groups. Lipkin noted that the salivary micobiome in ME/CFS is off as well.
Evidence for a Hit-and-Run Pathogen Emerging
Did a hit-and-run pathogen disappear, leaving an over-active immune system behind? Lipkin’s evidence suggests maybe so.
Next came some brand new findings which Lipkin called “very, very cool”. The study of the proteomics or proteins in our body is difficult to do and expensive – but potentially quite fruitful. Lipkin likened the proteomic work in ME/CFS to the successful proteomic work that’s been done in cancer.
A pathogen that hit ME/CFS patients and then ran – or rather was demolished by their immune systems – has been a popular hypothesis for years.
Lipkin suggested he may have found evidence for just such a pathogen which triggered an ongoing immune response in ME/CFS. The high levels of immunoglobulin kappa light and heavy chains he found suggested ME/CFS patients’ immune systems were in invader response mode. He suggested these findings could be used to predict people, who, presumably after an infection, were at risk of coming down with ME/CFS.
Metabolomics
Working with the metabolomics pioneer, Oliver Fiehn, Lipkin described a large 100-person 600-metabolite study which, as his other studies have, found distinct differences between ME/CFS patients with gut issues and those without. One of those differences involved substances called plasmalogens, which were reduced in ME/CFS – and (ouch) are also reduced in a variety of dementias and Parkinson’s disease – and could provide a clue to the central nervous system issues in ME/CFS.
Epigenetics
Another 100-person study found high levels of hypermethylation in ME/CFS – a finding that makes sense given the often abrupt onset of ME/CFS. ME/CFS appears like a disease that was primed by a massive epigenetic change. If a hit-and-run invader got loose, it may very well have bollixed up the gene expression of its victims.
Epigenetic changes occur when some event triggers a change in the expression of our genes. It’s as if a new overlay has been placed over our genes that reformats our genetic platform. A sudden infectious illness that produced dramatic, long term results would certainly fit the bill for a massive epigenetic change
Calling his data “some of the most promising data” yet involving genomic changes, Likpin indicated that he’d found that a significant number of epigenetic changes have indeed occurred in ME/CFS and they’ve occurred in some hot areas of ME/CFS research – oxidative metabolism and stress.
Iron(less) Man?
Then Lipkin turned to a fascinating finding he mentioned at last year’s NIH ME/CFS conference which appears to have held up thus far – altered iron metabolism. The “methylation difference” in the iron genes wasn’t all that large, but Lipkin was clearly impressed by the number of methylated genes associated with iron metabolism. Put them all together, he said, and you might really have something.
Are oxygen carrying iron molecules just not getting through to the muscles and other cells?
Noting that this process was not affecting red blood cells but could be affecting other cells, Lipkin slipped for a few moments into what he called fantasyland (given that he doesn’t know this is happening).
He began a series of animations (at 36:41) showing the raft of potential lesions that iron might have to surmount as it moves into ME/CFS patients’ cells. Since iron carries the key to energy production – oxygen – any problem moving iron into a cell, by definition, results in problems with oxygen delivery to that cell. Lesions that prevent oxygen carrying iron molecules into the cells is definitely a different take on the “systemic oxygen extraction” problems Systrom found in a large subset of ME/CFS patients.
The last tool in Lipkin’s toolbox was a “very expensive” method of searching for, if I have it right, peptides associated with pathogens which could indicate what might have triggered this illness.
Important AND Understudied Disease
Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SViPfk_OGGg
The Gist
- While urging more support for ME/CFS at at CDC talk Ian Lipkin reported on preliminary results from his NIH funded ME/CFS research
- Some evidence suggests a hit and run pathogen triggered an ongoing aberrant immune response in ME/CFS
- People with ME/CFS plus gut issues may differ significantly metabolically from people with ME/CFS without gut issues
- Reduced levels of plasmologen metabolites may be indicative of a central nervous system injury
- Lipkin found significant epigenetic changes may be impacting oxidative metabolism and stress in particular,
- Impaired iron metabolism could conceivably be reducing oxygen flows to muscle and other cells
No infectious agents have been found but Lipkin believes his new serology work will change that.
It’s clear that Lipkin believes the answer for ME/CFS is out there – the problem is getting the resources to get to it. Stating that the budgets of the NIH ME/CFS research centers were 15-20% of what was needed to rapidly achieve insights into ME/CFS, Lipkin reported that he didn’t even have the funding to get the samples needed for healthy controls.
As the evidence piles up – and it appears that every track in Lipkin’s NIH funded research center is showing results – he hoped the funders will realize this is not a disease of malingerers, and that it deserves serious study.
Conclusion
It seems that all systems are go in Lipkin’s NIH-funded research center. Despite a lack of funding that Lipkin can’t stop talking about, and despite the lack of healthy control samples, it appears that every major effort in his research center is producing results. How extensive and significant those results are, we’ll find out when the papers get published.
With a couple of years to go on their funding, the clock is ticking on the NIH-funded ME/CFS Centers. One study – from Maureen Hanson – has been published so far and we can expect a raft of others to follow. So far, Lipkin’s results look promising and let’s hope the others are as well and that the NIH is moved in its beneficence to provide funding for the real research centers Lipkin is looking for.
For now, Lipkin reported some promising, if preliminary, findings: evidence that a hit-and-run pathogen triggered an aberrant immune response, that reduced levels of plasmologen metabolites may be indicative of a central nervous system injury, that significant epigenetic changes may be impacting oxidative metabolism and stress in particular, and that impaired iron metabolism could conceivably be reducing oxygen flows to muscle and other cells.
(Health Rising does not actively fund raise for organizations (other than AAMES). We have our own fundraising needs but this opportunity was too delicious to pass up. :))
Want to have a sit-down with Ian Lipkin and support ME/CFS research? Check this out.
- Tier 1: Lab tour and 30 minute meeting with Dr. Lipkin – $5,000
- Tier 2: Lab tour and lunch with Dr. Lipkin – $10,000
- Tier 3: Lab tour and dinner with Dr. Lipkin – $20,000
HR Fundraising Drive Update
Please support HR!
Thanks to the 150 people who have provided about $19,000 to HR, bringing us almost 45% to our goal. Ian Lipkin needs more funding to allow him to really dig into ME/CFS the way he wants to and so does Health Rising. Besides keeping HR going, we could dramatically expand our reach and get our programs finished faster (two major ones are underway). Please support HR!
Hey Cort, just wanted to offer you the compliments of the season! Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. Thanks for the priceless work you do.
Your brilliantly written articles provide information, hope and comfort to so many people 🙂
All the best from the UK.
Thanks so much! Merry Christmas to you and everyone. I’m going to work hard on having a great Christmas 🙂
Cort Johnson, thanks for the great article, has anyone heard any more from the work carried out by the Team going to the University of Alabama
the Genetic ones that found in some GSD Glycogen Storage Disease types, I thought we would here more by the end of last summer from them?
Merry Christmas & all the very best wishes for 2020
Cort, I just want to take this opportunity to let you know how grateful I am (we are) that you are giving us the latest news on ME/CFS.
I cannot view the video – would you know if it is being published on you tube or elsewhere.?.
May you have a Merry Christmas ~ May you be able to pace and not crash out ~ may you be surrounded by family and friends to bring you cheers but who also know about ME and can give you some time out when needed. Blessings to you Cort and again, huge thank you for what you do.!.
I haven’t heard anything but I know of another researcher who has found them. They will definitely be a part of all this.
Thanks Sylvia!
I stand with Morgan ? Cort! Thank you dearly for all you do!! It’s never over looked that you bring to us so much hope and comfort. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. God Bless ♥️
– Jamie Trafton one of many who struggle with ME/CFS/FM and as we all know many other symptoms. We stand together as one ♥️???
Thanks, Jamie – I love it – we stand together as one! Thank you!
Cort, great work as usual! Don’t know how you do it. Thanks so much for all you do, and Happy Holidays to you and yours!
One of my friends now in the USA diagnosed with ME/CFS Lyme environmental illness etc., they have no found she has a Benign Brain Tumour called a Schwannoma they also occur in other regions of the body & are at times difficult to
find hers is in her auditory area pushing down on her Brain stem. She requires a 12-hour Surgery she likely will lose her hearing in her right ear it is a serious operation 3 Surgeons will be involved. She had raised Chromogranin A levels which is
indicative of neuroendocrine tumors, they also did a GAD 65 Antibodies test the same used in Stiff Person Syndrome but she did not know the result when we were on message. She was in there last week the Surgery was postponed until this
week…An adenoma can also present with a schwannoma, I will be asking my Doctor to look further when I see her. I have also heard an MRI Contrast done in 3D is best
to look for these they can be missed because they slowly grow over time, she has been ill for more than a decade & about 1% can be cancerous, I read that those can
be caused by radiation sickness I have seen a schwannoma tumor even in the calf muscles…I will be running the GAD-65 Antibodies test & the Chromogranin A as well
soon. I wonder if Dr. Ian Lipkin is looking into neuroendocrine/oncology markers as well? Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all of you
Chromagranin A is also a useful test for MCAS. It is not exclusive to neuroendocrine tumors. My ME/CFS specialist typically does it along with prostaglandin D2.
Sorry to hear about your friend and hoping her treatment goes well.
Fascinating article, Cort!
thanks, Learner1
I recall now Lerner1 she was also followed & diagnosed with MCAS by experts. I also asked her is she had the Glycine Antibodies test done in
Stiff Person Syndrome she replied saying she did not recall if they did this. One Woman on the Eagles Syndrome Group told me she had a
schwannoma removed from her she did not mention the location where it was found.
Learner1, I just remembered now that she mentioned also she was diagnosed prior to having as well MCAS. & I mentioned the Glycine
Antibodies used as well in Stiff Person Syndrome if she had it done her reply was she did not recall. She got to a point lately she was hardly able
to eat any food she was allergic to life in general & housebound
Thank you for the article. Mridye.com
Gadolinum gave me fibromyalgia.
“No infectious agents have been found but Lipkin believes his new serology work will change that.”
Just curious what you mean here. Does he think that an infectious agent may be persisting and driving the illness or is he referring to the initial hit and run pathogen?
Because he seems to be favouring the idea that a hit and run pathogen causes immune dysfunction. And then this sentence seems like he is also in belief that there may still be an underlying infection.
And thanks as always for a great article and keeping us all updated!
I recognize the jarring discord there! This will be covered in a future blog where Lipkin is going to use the same serological techniques in ME/CFS to uncover the pathogens that appear to be at the heart of acute flaccid myelitis.
This is one of the “indirect” methods of finding pathogens that Lipkin talked about. We’ll go into that in depth in the next Lipkin blog.
I had the same question.
Hopefully he doesn’t waste much time looking for the ‘elusive virus’ (which doesn’t exist). It’s pretty clear by now that a range of viruses can trigger CFS. It’s a ‘hit and run’ situation. It’s not an illness perpetuated by a chronic viral infection.
Good point but I think he’s doing even better – with his new kind of serological tests he’s looking for patterns of immune activation. If he can find them – and I assume there are at least a couple of them – then I think drugs can be produced or may already be being produced which could turn it off.
If I had mono, developed and then diagnosed with CFS and have had blood tests that consistently showed activated ebv for years, and I mean years, wouldn’t this be a chronic viral infection? I ‘m confused?
i dont agree matthias
hey Aidan, interesting about your friend, id be interested if she had other forms of NETS as well? I have to say, very view diseases present with the extremes of ME/CFS fatigue. One of the only diseases ive seen that a large percentage of patients have the fatigue seen in ME/CFS is neuro endocrine cancers.
I agree when you mention neuro endo cancers I am seeing the same things in numerous patients. I recall years ago one Egyptian Oncologist
that was funded by Gail Kansky he was working on a marker in his lab he called the Leukemic marker, they never continued to fund him so I
wonder if this could have been a link he even mentioned the term a long slow ride to Leukemia. The thing about Brain Tumors is some are
not known if they are Cancer until they are taken out & analyzed in the lab. I have even seen insulinoma in ME/CFS diagnosis some benign
some Cancer & countless Died of Breast Cancer. She is still in Surgery now
You may be interested in the SolveME webinar, now on YouTube, that suggests that some pathogens affect and change the microbiome and so may have a permanent effect on health, possibly explaining many chronic conditions.
http://YouTube.com/SolveCFSME/CFSintheEraofHumanMicrobiome:Persistent Pathogens Drive Chronic Symptoms by Interfering with Host Metabolism,Gene Expression, and Immunity. Scholarly presentation but easy to understand. Apologies for any errors in link, available on SolveME/CFS site.
Wow! This is so encouraging! Thank you, Cort…
Wow! This is very interesting. I was recently diagnosed with ME/CFS. I’ve had symptoms for now on 20+ years. I’m a registered nurse in my early 50’s and struggling. My HH6 and EBV markers were WAY out of range. I’m hoping Lippke get the funding to dig in further and find us some help.
Lipkin said that between 2-5% of the patients he sees at his clinic have evidence of a herpesvirus infection. It looks like you may be in that group. Are you trying antivirals.
With regard to HHV-6A – we still don’t have good tests for that bug so that is still up in the air. It could conceivably be doing a lot of damage.
Thanks Cort! Great coverage as usual!
Just curious, do you have any inclination what an accomplished microbiome hunter like Lipkin would recommend for ME/CFS patients to take or abide by (either diets, supplements, etc) or is there no way of really knowing until further research?
Thanks again
Lipkin does not provide treatment advice. It’s out of his bailiwick as a researcher to do so.
He did note that fecal transplants were being tried in ME/CFS but in an uncontrolled manner and he said some good things about Ampligen as well but that was it.
I remember somehow a webinar, (my brain got worse), that Ian Lipkin was the only one who stood up and asked (was it the cdc?) for more money several times, arguing that the money for the center was way to low. that it was unduable to do good research. and they just turned him down. I appreciated his courage as the only one who stood up for us! I live in an other country, here it is even worse, but is there any chance that the cdc or NIH wil give more money to the centers and other research Cort? Because I do not live in the Us, I have no feeling with it and with action groups and how the cdc or nih reacts.
Yes, your fuzzy memory was right on :). Lipkin got up at a meeting of NIH mucky mucks and said these centers need more funding. He’s been very forthright that the Centers need more funding to be really successful.
The NIH from Collins to Koroshetz is balking at providing more funding, however. It doesn’t look like any increases are going to happen in the near future but that doesn’t mean they won’t happen.
My guess is that despite their low funding that the Centers will be successful and that will set the stage for increased funding. Plus there’s Nath’s very slow moving intramural study. If it’s successful it will certainly set the stage for more funding: that was what it was designed to do..
Plus, there’s advocacy. We are moving forward on the Capitol on advocacy. That will help as well.
Time will tell but I think that while everything is happening so slowly if you look forward the future is promising as these different efforts kind of come together.
Cort, great information! This lecture was presented last September at the CDC? Were any stakeholders or members of the ME/CFS community invited to attend?
Not that I know of. I just heard about this the other day – thanks to Ron for that. Lipkin was apparently invited by Elizabeth Unger to present to CDC staff I guess.
Hey, Cort! Two quick questions. First, do you know why the video was pulled? And second, do you know what Lipkin means when he said that the budgets of the NIH ME/CFS research centers were 15-20% of what was promised? I don’t remember an amount being promised beyond what the Centers received.
The video was pulled? I had no idea. I assume that the CDC wants it out there.
I have no idea about the 15-20% statement either. Only Lipkin knows and my recollection is yours. It possible, though, that he was referring to internal discussions early in the process. As someone who’s worked with the NIH extensively and is part of several groups there, he would certainly have been included in discussions about the impending centers.
I saw the video yesterday, December 19, 2019. Co-Cure posted the link to video. I just tried the link to you tube now on December 20, and it worked perfectly.
I am amazed how well you followed all that Lipkin said, Cort.
Both these links got me to the video. The second one is at the CDC channel on you tube.
https://youtu.be/f0qvPx22F74
Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SViPfk_OGGg
But just now the first link says, removed by the user. That was posted to Co Cure. Use the second one!
I just found out that the 15-20 is what Lipkin told the NIH is needed for the work on this disease to proceed rapidly. I’ve amended the blog to state that.
I remembber him sayomg that on NIH Umger meeting you tube before it was pulled. Hope I can still watch.
A smattering of comments;
First your video link doesn’t work… at least when I try…
@Lisa Crum;
You should take a look at Cort’s article “The Atypical Thyroid Issues in ME/CFS, Plus a New Thyroid Subset. The article directly implicates HHV6 in NTIS, a subset of thyroid malfunction. Might be helpful for you.
I was surprised in how Lipkin’s study dovetails in the Dr. Amy Proal lecture about pathogen host interactions. One of the important points was that she found significant numbers of other bio-organisms (bacteria, viruses and more exotic categories) in patient’s bloodstreams (over 90% not yet identified). The thought is that some of these can act like genetic switches–which might be the reason why some people’s immune systems get stuck in turned-on states, or otherwise do not function correctly. They are also implicated in the microbiome and especially leaky gut.
Lipkin’s theory that “epigenetic changes may be impacting oxidative metabolism and stress in particular” really resonates with me as often mental stress can trigger PEM just as much as physical stress can–at least in my experience.
I also can identify with the idea of issues with cell oxygen utilization. Although not exactly the same as Dr. Lipkin’s ideas, I experience a kind of constant ‘air hunger’ especially with exertion plus a constant relapsing and remitting iron anemia (despite continuous ferritin supplementation)–although no clear cause has yet been identified. I wonder how many others have this problem?
Yes, I think Dr. LIpkin is on to something and bless you Cort for being the great communicator between his research and us patients! (Now I hope this comment doesn’t end up in spam!)
Amy Proal’s talk is getting more interesting by the minute!
Hanson screens her patient cohort using ICC. Maybe that’s why she’s seeing such telling results. If Lipkin did the same and abandoned IOM/SEID, which I believe he uses (?), then maybe he too might see more bang for his buck.
Has Lupkin ever looked at the presence of heavy metals , in CFS/ME/MCS?
Not that I know of. The only one I’ve ever heard of doing that is Ron Davis at Stanford. He’s found some interesting preliminary results – high levels of some in a subset. He’s gathering funding to look deeper into this.
It makes perfect sense to me that some of us have heavy metal issues. It would be great to have this looked into more.
I have 3 in the family with CFS/MCS, all caused by a drug, FLAGYL, given to us yrs ago, wrecked our gut, wiped out toooo much good bacteria. And to top it off we lived in an area of HIGH chemical/pesticide use, and we are now, full of heavy metals. WRECKED our lives. Our bacteria is our protection from the outside world.
No he’s not researching heavy metals. As Cort mentioned Dr. Davis is working on heavy metals, I have to disagree with Cort on his findings. Basically there was nothing significant for the ME/CFS community that came out of that fairly expensive study. The only thing that they found was a couple patients had high levels of uranium in them and a few had elevated Selenium levels. Both elevated levels were explained by environmental factors.
Do you mean the Severe ME/CFS patient as a whole?
Here’s the information I have -from a past blog:
If I remember correctly Davis is applying for a R21 grant to study the heavy metals further.
I think it’s a curious finding. It kind of came out of left field and we’ll see how far it goes.
If this is true and it damaged the central nervous system and edited genes is there anyway to undue what has been done? Or would be permanent changes that medicine could just help symptoms?
According to the paper below it is possible to reverse epigenetic changes.
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/8/10/1214/htm
“The accrued scientific findings strongly suggest epigenetic dysregulation in breast cancer pathogenesis though genomic instability is central to breast cancer hallmarks.
Being reversible and plastic, epigenetic processes appear more amenable toward therapeutic intervention than the more unidirectional genetic alterations.
As reversibility of epigenetic controls is a promising feature to optimize for devising novel therapeutic approaches, we also focus on the strategies for restoring the epistate that favor improved disease outcome and therapeutic intervention.”
That is very interesting I hope they follow thru in this area and see where it leads !
Thanks Cort!
I know I’m not in the USA and the NIH and the CDC are doing more than many other countries but I’d love to witness the financial gatekeepers of these agencies explain their ME/CFS funding criteria to a bunch of enthusiastic, smart and engaged school children on a day out, with their committed and forward thinking teachers exploring the way in which scientific research progresses!
Can you imagine the questions these bright minds would ask and the answers they’d get?
Like – What do you mean when you say that the researchers need to find data that is very difficult to access, so that you will give them money to do the studies?
Aren’t there millions of people who are very ill with ME/CFS? I heard that they are funding some of the research being done. Is that fair that sick people have to give up the little money they have?
Doesn’t the NIH/CDC have any money?
They both have lots of money…The NIH and I imagine the CDC, as well, doesn’t have any mechanism to assess underfunding in diseases and steer money toward those diseases.
The NIH almost exclusively rewards researcher interest – which we don’t have. Plus the way the institution has been created selects against lower funded diseases doing better. Once you’re in you sit on the committees that award funding. That boxes the little guys particularly in controversial diseases out.
Our way out of this mess is through political action and through getting more researchers to apply for grants.
Yet another fascinating article, Cort! I have just enough neuro cog ability to read 1 thing that requires deep understanding and retention. I consistently save that 1 neuro-cog limit for your articles. You have a skill that I you execute well and I am more appreciative of the work you put into these. Thank you for the time and energy you put into your articles!
Have a very happy Christmas with your family and the best to you and yours!
Thanks! Boy a cognitive enhancer would definitely on the top of the list for ME/CFS. Think how much brain energy it would unleash!
Cort, we certainly have the motivation! Even with diminished abilities, we have often seemed to have come up with good ideas.
I just tried your youtube link above, and it works.
It seems here lately I am the snowball rolling downhill according to Dr. Phoal statement that keeps getting larger and faster! Just blew my right eardrum out so I am def. interested in any research being done in that area as I had done, 2yrs. ago, a MRI, it pick up a flare behind my right ear and I have seen others talk about a right ear problem! I also read the above comments, anywho if u know or could find any info. of anyone researching that area on us (might not be on thier radar) will you pass it along?
Thank you Cort for another great article! Wishing you and yours many blessings in the upcoming year and a Very Merry Christmas!?
I thought this was fascinating:
“Those bugs, plus a reduction in healthy butyrate producers, appeared to set the stage for an inflammatory gut, a leaky gut, the transmission of gut bacteria into the blood – and a systemic immune response in ME/CFS. Since then, Lipkin has found significant differences in the metabolomics of ME/CFS patients with and without gut issues – suggesting that different disease processes are occurring in the two groups.”
This may explain why certain antibiotics and Tamiflu (which can also kill pathogenic bacteria) may work in certain cases of ME/CFS.