Serimmune uses next-generation technology to more precisely determine what pathogens a person has been exposed to.
Ever wonder if you’ve been exposed to one of those nasty tick-borne illnesses? How about if you ever came down with the coronavirus? A free study launched by the Santa Barbara-based Serimmune company could provide you with some data on that.
Serimmune was created in 2014 and has received funding from Illumina Ventures, LabCorp, and Merck. It calls itself an “immune intelligence” company. That’s a pretty good descriptor for a company that uses mounds and mounds of data to decipher what’s going on in our immune systems.
One review reported that its flagship technology called “serum epitope repertoire analysis”, or SERA, is going to do for antibodies what next-generation sequencing can do for genes: quickly and efficiently survey all of them.
Why do that? Because antibodies hold the key to understanding both past and present infections.
The Hunt for Antibodies – and Past Infections
Antibodies latch onto a pathogen blocking it from entering a cell and alerting the immune system to its presence. Memory antibodies are also formed that quickly alert the immune system to the pathogen’s presence if it comes around again.
It’s the role antibodies play in the “adaptive immune response” that makes the SERA technology so enticing. The adaptive immune response is called adaptive because during it, B and T-cells learn how to specifically target an infection.
When B-cells come across what they believe to be a pathogen, they rev up their engines and differentiate into either plasma cells or memory B-cells. Plasma cells then start producing massive amounts of antibodies (or immunoglobulins) that specifically target a molecule or antigen on the pathogen (hence the term “adaptive”).
The strategy is pretty straightforward – latch onto a pathogen, marking it for destruction by the immune system – and try to block it from infecting a cell by covering up the infection site. At the same time some B-cells are turning themselves into antibody-producing machines, though, other B-cells are forming themselves into long-lasting memory B-cells that produce antibodies that help the immune system quickly pounce on the invader the next time it shows up.
It’s these memory B-cells, and the antibodies they produce, that the SERA program is focused on. Not only can they tell us what infections we’ve been exposed to in the past, but they can tell us what infections we’re fighting off at the present. Of course, many people with ME/CFS are probably familiar with standard antibody tests. Serimmune, however, takes antibody tests to a whole new level.
SERA’s Superpowers
Serimmune and its SERA technology bring some new superpowers to the game of antibody testing. First, SERA uses E. coli bacteria that have been engineered to produce tens of billions of different peptides (short chains of amino acids). If a person has been exposed to a pathogen, some of those peptides will stick to antibodies they’ve produced to combat it.
SERA’s gift to the medical world is its ability to survey in exquisite detail the sticking points of the antibodies that are produced in reaction to an infection. Determining which peptides stick to IgG antibodies in a person’s blood allows SERA to develop an “epitope map“;’ i.e. a map of the sites that the antibodies in a person’s blood have bound to. The ability to produce that map allows SERA to produce a much more precise assessment of a past infection. In fact, SERA’s findings have been used to determine whether the current vaccines will be able to stop the coronavirus variants. One researcher called that impressive result “the tip of the iceberg for what Serimmune can do”.
Serimmune’s next ace up its biological sleeve is the unusually large amounts of data it has available to inform its findings. Serimmune already has terabytes of data available, but it’s hungry for more as the machine learning technique it uses gets better the more data it has.
Serimmune’s ability to determine if you’ve been exposed to some potentially key – and difficult to diagnose – infections is a pretty neat trick for a post-viral disease. It’s remarkable how many people remember the day the axe, so to speak, fell. Plus, we’ve learned from long COVID it’s even possible to have an infection that produces a long-term disease like ME/CFS without ever being aware that you were infected.
Bacteria, viruses and more, Serimmune’s technology can pick up the immune response to all of them. This study focuses on tick-borne infections and the coronavirus.
By the time SERA’s work has been done, one should be able to determine what pathogens a person has been exposed to throughout their lifespan. For the purposes of this study, though, Serimmune has developed two assays – one for tick-borne illnesses and one for the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen that produces COVID-19 and long COVID.
Serimmune’s assay for Lyme and tick-borne diseases is reportedly “best-in-class”. The current Lyme assays have notoriously poor sensitivity (they can miss cases of Lyme) and specificity (they can also falsely suggest someone has Lyme) – particularly when done in the earlier stages of infection. In fact, it’s been estimated that up to half of all Lyme cases may be missed by the current assays.
Serimmune’s assay – which assesses hundreds of potential epitopes – on the other hand, was found to have a specificity of 98.6%, and its sensitivity dramatically improved that seen in the standard assay (from 62% to 77%).
(Serimmune is also developing an assay for a disease (Sjogren’s Syndrome (SS)) of interest in ME/CFS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and related diseases because of the possibility that it’s being radically underdiagnosed, ironically, because of faulty antibody tests.)
Serimmune’s Research Study
The Gist
- Serrimmune is a cutting-edge Santa Barbara “immune intelligence” company that’s using mounds of antibody data to more accurately diagnose who has been infected with what.
- Antibodies latch onto a pathogen – blocking it from entering a cell and alerting the immune system to its presence. Memory antibodies are also formed that quickly alert the immune system to the pathogen’s presence if it comes around again.
- Serimmune and its SERA tool assess many more aspects of antibody prevalence than other tests – allowing the company to create an “epitope map” – and potentially making its antibody findings much more precise. Serimmune, for instance, has reportedly produced “best-in-class” antibody tests for Lyme disease.
- Serimmune has launched a 5-year free antibody study aimed, in part, at people with fatiguing diseases like ME/CFS and fibromyalgia. People who sign up for the study can have their antibodies to the coronavirus and/or tick-borne pathogens that produce Lyme, Ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Chagas disease.
- The coronavirus part of the study will assess if you’ve been exposed to the virus even if you’ve been vaccinated. (If you’ve been exposed but were never vaccinated it will show that as well). The tick-borne part of the study will assess if you’ve been exposed recently or in the past to a tick-borne pathogen. (How far the test can reach back into the past depends on how long the antibodies stick around – see the blog for more details).
- Please note that the coronavirus test comes standard with the study. If you wish to have your antibodies to tick-borne illnesses assessed you must check the box for that.
- The study is open to people who are over 18 years old and live in U.S.
- Please note that these tests are not FDA-approved and that any positive results should be followed up with FDA-approved tests at your physician’s office.
- Upon entry to the study, you will receive a Tasso blood collection device you can use at home. The device does not use needles to draw your blood.
- Every couple of months for the next five years you will receive another collection device and Serimmune will inform you of the results. (Other pathogens may be included in the future). Serimmune will use this data to better perfect its analyses and hopes to produce antibody signatures specific to ME/CFS.
- See the end of the blog to learn how to enter this study.
Tick-borne Illnesses – If you chose to participate in Serimmune’s research study, it will provide information that could help you learn if you’ve been recently exposed, or in some cases, have ever been exposed to a tick-borne illness such as Lyme, Ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Chagas disease. As these tests are often hard to come by, and not always accurate, this is a real opportunity to learn if you might have been infected by one of these pathogens.
The results will fall into three ranges:
- Recent exposure – If this result comes back negative, it suggests you have not been recently exposed to the pathogen. If the result comes back positive; i.e. it suggests that you have been recently exposed, but it does not mean that you necessarily have an active infection. A positive result ranges from 30 to 200. A higher score – which generally means that a higher number of distinct antibody species and/or higher antibody titers have been found – is more indicative of an active infection, but Serimmune is not willing to state that an active infection is present. (Note that this study is for research purposes only and that any positive results should be followed up with an FDA-approved test and a doctor visit.)
- Indeterminate result – The test cannot determine whether or not you’ve been exposed to the pathogen.
- Exposed – You may have been exposed to the pathogen in the past. How far back in the past SERA can pick evidence of an infection depends on how long the antibody response remains, and this varies from pathogen to pathogen. For instance, while the antibody response to the Pfizer/Moderna coronavirus vaccines fades after about four months, it lasts for about a year if you’ve actually been infected with the virus. The antibody response to the Borrelia bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, on the other hand, appears to last for 10-20 years, and it can remain high for life after an Epstein-Barr virus infection. (I could not find studies assessing the duration of the antibody response for the other pathogens.)
Coronavirus Infection and Vaccination Study – The study will also assess your immune response to determine if you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus vs having received the vaccine. Three possibilities exist:
- If you’ve never been exposed to the virus, but have been vaccinated, the test will show that your immune system is producing antibodies to the spike protein but not other parts of the virus. (This does not mean the vaccine is less effective than being exposed to the virus).
- If you’ve been vaccinated and have been exposed to the virus, the test will pick up the more comprehensive antibody response and tell you you’ve been exposed to the virus.
- If you haven’t been vaccinated, but have been exposed to the virus, the test will show that as well.
Basically, the test offers to clear up a big question for many of us: have I been exposed to the virus?
Research and Investigational Purposes
The study notes that it is for “research and investigational purposes only” and that its tests have not been approved as diagnostic tests; i.e. any positive results should be confirmed by an FDA-approved test and a physician.
Free and Easy!
Tasso’s no-needle blood collection gadget.
The study is free of charge – and is remarkably easy to participate in. No lab draws needed! No needles required!
You get a Tasso collection kit with a little gadget that you stick on your arm for 5 minutes which magically sucks out the small amounts of blood needed to do the test. Then you just mail the sample back to the company in the kit they provide, and you’re done.
Serimmune will also send you a new kit on a regular basis over the next five years or so in order to monitor your exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and tick-borne infections, and possibly other pathogens.
If you are over 18 years old and live in the U.S., you can participate in this study.
If you’d like to participate in the COVID19 study and get free COVID and tick-borne disease antibody results, you can enroll in it using this link. Note that this is not an ME/CFS/FM specific study and doesn’t mention either disease in the description or the questionnaire. (It asks about the presence of chronic fatigue in the study questionnaire).
It’s a large study that includes healthy controls and has a focus on fatiguing illnesses. Serimmune reached out to Health Rising because it would like to have as many people with ME/CFS and similar fatiguing illnesses participate in the study as possible.
Please also note that the study automatically assesses your coronavirus antibodies but if you want to get your tick antibodies assessed as well you must click the box at the top.
Thanks to Kristin Loomis of the HHV-6 Foundation, who contacted Serimmune and proposed that ME/CFS patients be contacted about this study.
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I see the Covid related link to click, where is the CFS etc one?
It’s the same link. People with ME/CFS and other fatiguing illnesses as well as healthy controls are being asked to be included in the overall study. I’ve amended the blog to note that.
What is in the fine print is that the only results patients will be shown is for the corona exposure. Unless I have that wrong. And it’s for a long time.
I am very interested in this study but I am disappointed that I as a Canadian it is not available for me. Any idea on whether this will be opened up to people outside of the US?
Believe me, I understand your disappointment. I specifically asked Serimmune about the possibility of Canadians participating.
Unfortunately, the company informed me that it was Tasso oddly enough – the blood collection company – that produced that restriction.
I don’t know why that is. It may be that Tasso hasn’t gotten the go-ahead to send its products to Canada. If that’s so, perhaps the study will be open to Canadians at some point. If that happens, Health Rising will certainly post an update on it. It would be great to get Canadians in there.
Yes, please let us know if this changes and they open it up to Canadians. I would love to participate!
Will do.
I wish I could send in from Germany.
Do you think Serimmune would let Canadians into the study if we paid? Perhaps they could contact the Federal Minister of Health. I will send them a copy of the article and see if there’s any response. Thanks for all your hard work Cort.
I don’t know but I imagine it’s more of a legal thing. I plugged in Canada and Tasso but that didn’t bring up anything. I don’t know if they’re operating in Canada or not but they’re backed by a lot of good companies and institutions including the NIH – and they’re located right over the border in Seattle. All Serimmune said was that”due to restrictions” from Tasso they could not include Canada. It didn’t seem that costs were involved.
Good idea to try and figure out what’s going on and how to possibly resolve it.
I was interested in participating in this research study,but read that the researchers have stock options. Is this common for researchers?
Serimmune is a company – it’s not part of academia where such things are frowned upon. My general understanding is that in young companies like Serimmune it’s common for employees to have and be paid in stock options as well as receiving some sort of salary.
Serimmune’s effectiveness, like any other company in this field, will depend on its ability to meet milestones such as peer-reviewed published studies (which they’ve already done) and get FDA approval for its products. However they chose to pay their employees, that’s where the rubber meets the road and that’s what they need to do.
I just signed up for this study and when it asked about medical history, “chronic fatigue” was an option but not ME/CFS specifically. There was an “other” option. I wonder how this could help ME patients if ME/CFS isn’t even a listed option.
Your question brings to mind how aware of a community we are. I took the questionnaire some tweaks ago and thought I remembered an ME/CFS option and included that in the blog but apparently not. I guess it was wishful thinking. Right now, they’re focused on “chronic fatigue”.
Once people are in the study, Serimmune could certainly tighten up their distinctions and break out ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, post-treatment Lyme disease, etc. in future questionnaires. I don’t know if they’re planning to do that or not. If they don’t do that I don’t, like you, see how their results could produce an ME/CFS specific signature – which they’ve stated they’re interested in.
People with ME/CFS would still benefit from learning about their own personal results but I don’t see how it could benefit the field as a whole.
I asked them about this and will report back what they say. Thanks for pointing this out.
Most primary care doctors in the US only use the “chronic fatigue” diagnosis code, since they know little about ME/CFS (and I’m not sure if a ME/CFS diagnosis code actually exists). So perhaps they’re using this larger bucket to capture those who have not yet been correctly diagnosed, or to map to existing diagnosis code databases?
Personally, I am not married to the labels “CFS/ME”, “CFS”, etc. as they are just labels for something for which there is no specific diagnostic test, naming instead a constellation of symptoms and path abnormalities that a whole buncha people around the world are living with.
As Cort wrote in his informative article, “It’s these memory B-cells, and the antibodies they produce, that the SERA program is focused on.” That’s it. They are going to be looking at our B-cell-produced antibodies regardless of the label that has been slapped on us.
I was diagnosed with CFS and FM in 1990. In the early 2000s, I was diagnosed and fairly aggressively treated 3 tickborne infections. I still meet the criteria for CFS and FM, or maybe it’s chronic borreliosis, or maybe now long COVID because I got sick in March 2020 just as news was breaking about how bad it was going to be. Didn’t see the doc as I wasn’t sick enough to be hospitalize and there were no tests or OP treatment anyway, back then, so who the heck knows what’s going on. Other than a new autoimmune disease I was diagnosed with last year, as my general labs continue to “look fine”. ::shrug::
So, I filled out the Serimmune medical questionnaire today, answering the questions as best as I could (much easier than filling out the new patient forms medical offices use!), and should be receiving my first Tasso next week.
I am looking forward to finding out what antibodies are lurking within. It isn’t that knowing will change anything other than to re-affirm that it’s not all in my head (well, except those things that cross the BBB).
(OMG, what if it IS AIMH??!!)
Melissa, your post is a perfect example of why others say that ME/CFS has nothing to do with actual infections. Well, maybe an infection may one part of the initial factors, but the key to recovering from the illness is to know and understand what ELSE was going on when you got sick.
What chronic stresses, pressures, traumas were happening in your life at that time, or even earlier, that led to the perfect storm when other things like infections or environmental exposures, etc., caused you — and most of us — to come crashing down.
And then, what changes were made — or what different things were going on — when you started to improve, or at least not get worse.
It’s all about the ‘cell danger response’ as Navieux called it — and how to turn that off so the gut can heal and the body.
What a pity it is not possible to participate from the EU. I would be so happy!
Wehre can I rent a mailbox+Shipping System from the US? Seems like a business-idea 🙂
If you figure that out, make it two way! There’s lots of stuff Americans can’t get from the EU. Like affordable prescription drugs. The baby formula bagunza is just the latest example (though they finally made an exception under enormous pressure.)
This is a fallacy. People in the UK for example pay Tax and national insurance – national insurance contributions can be upwards of £20 a month for the lowest earners who many never use the NHS. People also pay for each prescription which may run into hundreds of pounds a month. Believe me, inflated prices for prescription meds have arrived in the UK, and we have a hideous waiting list for operations which has got very much worse during the pandemic and we can’t even get to see a GP for months. The system is broken.
We can’t try half the drugs or buy half the drugs you can in the US so never have a chance to try even saline for POTs. So whilst you have a terrible system that is very unfair, it is no better here – believe me.
Research is also very stunted.
Just submitted my health questionnaire. As others have noted, I was a bit surprised that ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia were not listed. I was also surprised that diseases/conditions which aren’t currently classified as autoimmune but have been shown to put patients at greater risk for autoimmunity, such as endometriosis and immunoglobulin deficiency, weren’t listed, either.
I’m definitely curious to see if my Lyme antibodies are still around and how much vaccine antibody remains. The second Pfizer vaccine made me quite ill 12 hours after the injection and worsened my fatigue and heart symptoms (palpitations, tachy, AV Block), which I’m still experiencing 14 months later. My doc instructed me not to boost, so I didn’t. Still masking and social distancing, which really sucks.
I’m hoping my little contribution to this study will contribute to finding answers to Long COVID and ME/CFS.
My doctor advised me not to get the second booster, so instead I got Covid. I recommend the booster. Covid is Much worse than the vaccine side effects, believe me.
Sometimes you just can’t win. I wish there was not so much gray area. I did fine with coronavirus vaccines and the boosters and am having some trouble with the Shingrix vaccine. I knew someone who had shingles and it was horrifying. Hopefully it will be worth it.
Cameron, but now you have stronger immunity to Covid than any vaccine.
And as for ‘side effects’, many — up to 25% — are dropping dead from heart attacks, strokes, due to the vaccine. There was an article just yesterday:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/328529?fbclid=IwAR04C1LakjR8w5Mw5TuI87Mw5-s0gRR-VSglasOmVyVnwlTHhOHkmsvlB4I
Cameron,
The second vaccine set back my ME/CFS recovery and gave me new heart symptoms that I’m still trying to recover from. Very few of us had the reaction I had 12 hours after the injection (fever over 101, intense muscle and joint pain worse than my fibromyalgia, rigors, severe nausea, diarrhea, etc) which my ME/CFS specialist believed would be worsened by a booster. Since I got Guillain-Barre after a severe intestinal infection, I wasn’t about to chance another vaccine, especially given my sedentary isolated lifestyle on disability.
Cort,
I’ve had several doctors advise me against a shingles vaccine because I’ve had Guillain-Barre. Apparently this vaccine has a higher probability of inducing GBS than flu shots. My brother had terrible shingles as a complication from AIDS, so I know how bad they can get. But there’s no way I’m risking GBS again. It took me almost a year to recover.
Pfizer vaccine🥲… The first two are killing me. I admit to excessive long-term stress. But I had that before and diet, rest, meditation, exercise, I had pretty much overcome my worst ME/ CFS symptoms. After the second vaccine I began experiencing odd (for me) issues. First, Costcochondritis, then shortness of breath, then heart palpitations and during this time loose my ability to balance on one foot at a time. Then…..hiatal hernia, then low/no stomach acid (I believe I have silent acid reflux) really bad memory and zero energy now. 22 years ago when I was diagnosed with MS/CFS, I changed everything. First diet. No wheat no gluten no dairy no sugar nothing packaged everything organic. I have held onto that diet to this day. I went from very light exercise to working out hard five days a week. I felt great I admit to increasing stress… But all these physical responses just don’t make sense. Most recently I wanted up in the emergency room after I working on the rowing machine at the gym. I finished my session. I stood up felt chest pressure. Couldn’t catch my breath for me a minute. Then started coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing for about 45 minutes. Received potassium and calcium IV. They said my levels were dangerously low. How the hell does that happen?? I eat right I take supplements I exercise… I do admit major pain in between all that. But it’s pretty clear to this non-– scientist that vaccine attacked ligaments, cartilage, stomach and brain…..soo tired😢
I hope everyone who can takes part. I have been part of this study going on six months and I hope this ultimately can help bring some needed answers to the ME/CFS community. I know of other patients taking part and the more the better!
Good work Cort.
Do they send you the results? How often do you receive a new kit? Thanks!
Every 6 months they will mail you a sample collection kit, which you will use to collect your blood at home.
It;s very disappointing that they’re not including ME/CFS specifically. When will the fight to be included finally be won? Every time someone refers to my having ‘chronic fatigue’ I correct them, but even my CFS doc falls into it! I would love to participate if there’s a category for ME/CFS, but before that, I would check “other”.
I certainly understand the sentiment regarding “chronic fatigue”! If you chose “other” category, though, you wouldn’t be contacted to determine what your fatiguing illness is. If you were in the fatiguing category you might be.
“Serimmune will use these data to better perfect its analyses and hopes to produce antibody signatures specific to ME/CFS.” How is this possible when the study isn’t even asking about ME/CFS on its questionnaire? A 5 year study? How many have this long to wait for answers? Will results really be given to patients after each blood analysis or will this not happen until the end of the study?
In 1986, I was part of a ME/CFS support group in our town that sent blood from group members and family controls to the Gallo Lab where two researchers had discovered a virus that was eventually named HHV6. Even though we paid for these blood draws, we were never given the results.
A tough group! I realize that many of us have had bad experiences with the medical profession and that can make us suspicious. I have had them as well.
Please note, though, that I did not go to Serimmune – they contacted me via Kristin Loomis because they wanted to get as many people with ME/CFS in their study. Also Serimmune was aware of what was in this blog and they indicated it was correct; i.e. they do want to identify signatures associated with ME/CFS.
The questions raised have been noted and sent to Serimmune. They have received the message.
Yes, you do get the results after each blood draw – I’ve seen someone’s results.
If you want to participate the opportunity is there; if you don’t want to you don’t have to. The study is free to all to enter. In my opinion, this is potentially quite an opportunity for ME/CFS patients personally and for the field as well.
.
It is an opportunity and while it is a long time to wait, I’m gonna do it
Cort wrote (…) the test will show that your immune system is producing antibodies to the spike protein but not other parts of the virus. (This does not mean the vaccine is less effective than being exposed to the virus).”
I think it’s a bit more nuanced. A large-scale study shows that natural immunity protects better is than vaccinations.
Protection and Waning of Natural and Hybrid Immunity to SARS-CoV-2
https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2118946?articleTools=true
Yes, I repeated what was in the study. It is more nuanced and, in fact, it does appear that natural immunity – which happens after an infection – lasts longer than does a vaccine. Of course, you have to risk coming down with the virus in order to get that longer-lasting immunity. With the vaccines you have a risk from them as well. No easy decisions.
I agree. That applied to the Delta variant. Now with the omicron variant it is completely different.
Fortunately, it seems that covid-19 is becoming more varulent. With the knowledge of today, the truth of yesterday has disappeared.
Let’s hope it stays a mild variant this coming winter. The vaccines have to be adapted to these new variants otherwise it is completely pointless to get vaccinated or boosted 🙂
The so called Covid vaccines do not prevent infection or spread. Even the makers admit this!
So how can anyone at this point claim getting them or their endless boosters an intelligent option? Especially with all the VAERS data documenting the harm and deaths we know these so called vaccines are causing.
Nobody ever said they PREVENT infection or spread. The studies indicate that they do diminish it, though. That was never the reason for vaccines. Nor do they necessarily prevent you from getting sick.
The vaccines are there to prevent serious illness or death and the studies show they do that very well.
Without a control group VAER data by itself is meaningless. If it tracked everyone who ate an orange, for instance, it would find lots of people who died after eating an orange. That’s why the vaccine trials had tens of thousands of people in them – half of which were controls – to determine vaccine effectiveness and side-effects.
That is not true. Nearly all health authorities, including Prime Minister Joe Biden, said those vaccinated could no longer pass the virus on to other people such as grandparents. That way you could protect them. Also, the chance of getting covid-19 yourself as a vaccinated person was almost excluded and you would not get sick. That’s how the vaccine was sold to the people. There are also clear statistical trends with regard to excess mortality and vaccinations. Proving a causal relationship is difficult, partly because independent scientists do not have access to essential data. They are opposed or even kicked out of their profession. It is of great importance to keep ”errors” out of the public eye. In addition, young people rarely, if ever, ended up in hospital anyway. This group did not require vaccination. It was forced upon them. Scandalous.
That’s not what I heard. From the beginning I knew the vaccines were not going to completely stop the flow of infections. How could they? THe vaccines enable the bodies response to the pathogen. They don’t place a protective barrier around a person. Of course the virus is going to get in – and the vaccines will help the body fight it off – and in doing make the person less effective.
The vaccines have ALWAYS been touted to reduce death and hospitalization. That’s what the studies showed and that’s what I’ve always heard. If you’re hearing differently you might change your media source.
Clear statistical trends to vaccines causing excess mortality? I don’t know how you decided that but after many studies showing the opposite you’re basically just throwing science into the trash bin. I would go with the science…
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-06-vaccines-efficacy-severe-covid-months.html
Let the curious reader see for him or herself; go to openVAERS.com and see just how injurious and/or lethal these so called “safe and effective” Covid vaccines really are. The real world results, though underreported, are astonishing.
“VAERS is the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System put in place in 1990. It is a voluntary reporting system that has been estimated to account for only 1% (read more about underreporting in VAERS) of vaccine injuries. OpenVAERS is built from the HHS data available for download at vaers.hhs.gov.“
(From openVAERS.com)
The SERIOUS reader should understand that if VAERS tracked what happened afterwards to people who, say, ate a banana it would find that many people would get ill or die in the days and months following that! That’s because people are always getting ill or dying. If you track any large group of people that’s going to happen to some of them.
That’s essentially what VAERS is doing. In order to understand the impact a vaccine has you have to have a control group which doesn’t get the vaccine and one that does – and then follow them. Then you will know. I have no doubt that the big vaccine studies did not take into account ME/CFS and that the vaccines are hitting people with ME/CFS harder than most people. That’s what Health Rising’s surveys suggest. Relying on VAERS for answers though does not make sense.
Something many of find especially useful is learning ways to recover, at least to some degree, from Covid vaccine damage. The FLCCC group of doctors have come up with innovative strategies to help those facing unexpected health problems as a result of the jab. They also have a fascinating Wednesday night zoom meeting at 7pm EST. I learn a great deal from it. I’m grateful to hear the perspective of those doctors who’re persecuted and silenced for their willingness to question the dominant narrative and explore novel ways to solve the suffering of so many around the world.
https://covid19criticalcare.com/covid-19-protocols/i-recover-post-vaccine-treatment/
That vaccination would protect against the transmission of corona was constantly described in the main stream media. Even by the CDC. A new CDC study provides strong evidence that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0329-COVID-19-Vaccines.html
Later, the effectiveness of avoiding hospital admissions and reducing the risk of death was weakened. I read nothing of this in the original research by Pfizer Polack et al.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2034577
It is also known that there is considerable under-reporting of side effects. This is also apparent from a German study. The actual number of people with side effects from vaccination against Covid may be more than 16 times higher.https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=83705
Houston, we have a problem. It appears there’s a new, fast moving version of a very nasty prion brain disorder which may be linked to the jabs:
“A peer-reviewed case report published in Turkey and the French preprint identified sudden CJD cases appearing following vaccination with the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, suggesting links between getting vaccinated and the disease.
A study published last year in Microbiology & Infectious Diseases found a potential link between Pfizer’s vaccine and prion disease in humans.”
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/covid/
(…)”For now, nothing is being said about the growing elephant in the room: Portugal is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. According to the Our World in Data site, Portugal comes in 2nd in the world for Covid vaccinations with 95% of the population protected, and 95% of the over-80s boosted (97% of the over 70s have also been boosted). Why, if so many people are so diligently jabbed are so many of them dying?(…)”
https://www.portugalresident.com/covid-mortality-going-to-get-worse-warn-specialists/
Welcome to the Twilight Zone.
Why are they dying, indeed. Let’s also ask why so many healthy, exceptionally fit, young athletes are collapsing and dying on the playing field around the world? And why embalmers are finding never before seen extraordinarily long, beige colored, rubbery clots in the deceased? And why Cancer rates are spiking, along with bizarre menstrual changes even in post menopausal women, as well as miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant mothers. And why myocarditis has suddenly been rebranded as a mild malady. These things all happening coincidentally since the rollout of the jab, but never mind the very interesting timing. And can we not agree it makes perfect sense Pfizer tried to hide its clinical trial data for 75 years? Nothing fishy about that.
If only Sherlock Holmes were here to help us put the pieces together and see what we’re not supposed to notice on our own. Despite being intelligent Human Beings created with powerful minds, let’s just kick back and follow the narrative, wherever it bounces. Cognitive Dissonance is now our collective duty above all else.
Meantime, more trouble from believing the unquestionable, trust us we’re the science, dominant narrative:
https://www.saveusnow.org.uk/covid-vaccine-scientific-proof-lethal/
That’s easy to explain Gijs – no need to dredge up some conspiracy theory. The vaccines may be losing some effectiveness as the variants pick up more and more mutations. They are still quite effective at preventing hospitalization and death. Nobody ever said they would prevent symptoms.
https://covid19.nih.gov/news-and-stories/booster-shots-covid-19-vaccines-effective-against-omicron-subvariant
(…)Cort wrote:”Nobody ever said they PREVENT infection or spread.”
Wow Cort, the most important man in the world Joe Biden said it. And there were many more. (…)Biden in October when he said people who are vaccinated for the coronavirus “cannot spread it to you.(…)”
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/dec/22/joe-biden/biden-says-vaccinated-people-cant-spread-covid-19-/
Cort wrote: (…) ”The vaccines may be losing some effectiveness as the variants pick up more and more mutations. They are still quite effective at preventing hospitalization (…)”
This is also not entirely correct. Last year, for example, in Israel, patients who were vaccinated were already overrepresented in hospitals. More than the unvaccinated. While at that time the Delta variant was still dominant and there were still few mutations.
(..)”in Israel hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Aug. 15, 59 percent were fully vaccinated(..)
(…)”Most of the vaccinated patients who were hospitalized, about 87 percent, were at least 60 years old.(…)”
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/nearly-60-of-hospitalized-covid-19-patients-in-israel-fully-vaccinated-study-finds.html
Would their test be able to detect persistent viral infections? Or perhaps persistent viral fragments/debris?
I don’t mean just telling if you’ve ever had a virus in the past some time, but if it’s continuing to chronically affect (cause CFS) you, would those values be higher/stand out more? Basically, could it tell what virus is causing your CFS (even if it’s a old infection)?
Great question. The test should indicate if you’ve had a recent exposure to these pathogens. I believe this is because more recent exposures show more of the antibodies that are actively fighting the infection.
Serimmune is not willing to go so far as to say you have an active infection or not. You would have to get that assessed at the doctors office.
What about an old infection that lingers? My guess is that that would show up as a recent exposure as it’s presently active and is activating more antibodies than the old infection which would be just activating memory antibodies. That’s my guess!
Thanks Cort. Appreciate the reply.
Good point about how a lingering infection may appear as a recent exposure! That would be helpful! It could indicate any ongoing cause of CFS.
That blood drawing procedure sounds a little painful. Has anyone had any experience with it??
I haven’t tried it but it appears to be less painful than a needle.
DId it and it was painless. Very cool new way to draw blood!
🙂
Obvious question but chances of this coming to the UK Cort?
A chance to say thank you so much for all your hard work too. Very much appreciated.
Sorry to say but I doubt it.
Is it not possible to have tests in Uk and results passed on to you?
Re the vaccines, everything Cort is saying is what I’ve heard from reputable sources (Johns Hopkins U School of Public Health, National Public Radio). Unfortunately, over time the messages have changed slightly that the authorities such as CDC have been sending out – simply because with more experience with this new virus, there’s more understanding, more test results (both of the virus and of the vaccines).
The big ringer, in my opinion, is the role of the variants. In the first year, I don’t think anyone was thinking about variants yet and yes, the vaccines *could* stop people from getting infections (up to 75% or whatever the efficacy was; they never claimed 100%) and *could* stop people from passing it on (though that one they were still a little uncertain about – The Typhoid Mary factor).
But with Delta, it became obvious that the original vaccine might not be able to be as efficacious against mutations of the original Covid virus. PLUS, the more dangerous thing, was the understanding was that each infected person was a little Petrie dish in which the virus could brew new variants.
That is a big reason why it is so, so very crucial that everyone can vaccinated: so we can stop the proliferation of variants from which we are less protected by the vaccines. These new variants have new characteristics – such as transmissibility (e.g. Omicron).
So Biden could say, back before Omicron, that if you got the vaccine you wouldn’t give it to grandma (up to 76% probability), but the new variants change the dynamics – in ways researchers are scrambling to keep up with.
I wish more people would understand that and get the vaccine, and *wear the N95 mask*. This is not a forever thing, but the longer people resist helping to stop it, the more and longer of a problem it will be.
If this weren’t too long a message already, I’d compare it to climate change.
Thanks, Cort.
Any idea if this type of test has cross reaction issues?
But Gijs – that’s just a study result – there’s no manipulating of data by the media – that’s what the study found.
With regard to the Pfizer study – it was a 2-month study! The first Pfizer study put out. How would they know what would happen 6 or 12 months later?
Don’t get offended with conspiracy theories. It’s all nuanced like I said. But look at the other side of the corona vaccine. It is becoming increasingly clear that this vaccine does not work as well as promised. And many people have suffered from all kinds of ailments after vaccination. Looks like you don’t want to see that.
You hide behind stakeholder data. That is meaningless in science until confirmed by independent scientists. And that is precisely the problem. The problem with a vaccine for a virus is that you are always behind the times with mutations. Just look at the flu shot.
My opinion based on data is that mass vaccination against corona has been a dangerous action (especially for young people). Time will tell.
I’m wondering if a person on blood thinners could safely do the blood collection. I watched the video for how to collect the blood and I noticed when the person in the video peeled the device off of her arm, there was a slit in her arm where the blood came out.
Hi Kathy – I would suggest you contact Tasso’s customer service to answer your question. They fully tested their devices and are very knowledgeable about their safety aspects. You can call Tasso even before signing up for the Serimmune study, to see if the device would be ok for you to use. The specific device used in the Serimmune study is called Tasso+ (Tasso plus).
Tasso customer service number is 408-708-8451.
I have to admit, when I read about the Tasso device, I couldn’t help thinking of Theranos. I did a little research and found this 2022 article from Nature Biotechnology about the companies developing more patient-centric blood testing, post-Theranos. Happy reading.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-022-01242-0
No doubt! Good to hear. 🙂
I’m interested, but do participants get results for both Cov and tickborne illnesses? I mean initial or is there a wait? Also, is this blood collection kit one that leave a cut? I need more information about how blood comes out.
If you click the tick-borne box on the application you will get both. Check out the Tasso site – I believe its almost painless.
I am straggling and bed-bound in Canada, desperately seeking answers. don’t feel i can go on much longer. I hope they widen their search.
Hang in there Lee Ann – lots of interesting stuff coming our way.
Thanks Cort. Very interesting. Hope this works out well.
For those who have adverse events related to these particular vaccines, there may be good news too. There’s a clinical trial in Thailand involving a barrier created with monoclonal antibodies.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05358873?cond=SARS-CoV-2+Acute+Respiratory+Disease&draw=2&rank=13
And a group in Singapore has acknowledged that information involving CFS and reactogenicity is sparse. They are looking at why this would happen, and they are proposing an alternative mode of administration – so far just in mice. The mice seemed to tolerate it better and immunogenicity was unimpaired.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001643
Had a really great chat with folks at Serimmune today. My kit will ship tomorrow. It is interesting that they will be able to distinguish between antibodies from Covid infection vs vaccines. I signed up for the other pathogen exposures option as well. They are looking at EBV signatures and patterns, and do seem very interested in ME CFS, tick borne pathogens, etc. Spoke some with them about FMS, POTS, and work going on in Germany. The reports will be scored in terms of amount of exposure based on antibodies, 0 to 200, but not quite sure what that means as yet. They are looking to develop valid testing and to delve into data correlations from the various diseases and a person’s antibodies. What I liked is that it is only about a one month wait for your first report and then they test you again in six months. The test is just a small lancet in a tube that is pretty much painless. Priority return with USPS included with test. Seems like a no brainer to participate. Thank you Cort for bringing this to our attention and forgive me if I am repeating info you have shared.
Thanks, Cynthia for digging into this and reporting back. Good to hear!
I just heard from Serimmune. We’ve made a difference! They are going to be digging into the different diseases and exploring the different aspects of fatigue and the illness experience and asked for suggestions. I provided some and am sending them onto our fatigue and PEM guru – Lenny Jason 🙂
I let them know I heard about them on Health Rising and planted a few seeds with them including BHC, OMF, etc. for more participants. They have a cap on this study of 2000 and have I believe around 600 spots more they are filling. I figure the more ME CFS folks enroll, the more things may stand out in the results.
I received my Serimmune report today. They’re measuring antibodies to the spike glycoprotein which the vaccine targets, and other proteins in the virus that would result in antibody production after exposure. My antibody response to the non-spike proteins was so low, I’ve probably never been exposed to the actual virus. But my antibody response to the spike glycoprotein was listed as medium (high, medium, low, or no antibody response). I find that interesting since my last vaccine dose was at the end of April 2021.
I didn’t boost at the advice of my ME/CFS specialist after the second dose worsened my ME/CFS symptoms. And it would seem my overzealous immune system didn’t dial down even after 14 months like most everyone else. I would love to see the long-term antibody response to the spike glycoprotein for other ME/CFS patients who didn’t boost, either.
Have many others done this? I got my report and the tick results were interesting. None registered in the “recent infection” category which the folks at Serimmune say is a year. But several tick-borne coinfections were still quite recognizable. Anyone else with confirmed Lyme ( CDC WB, rash) have results yet? My infections would have been 2006 and 2015.
Interesting that it picked it up so long ago. I haven’t received my results yet but am very curious.
The Serimmune contact says that the antibodies under the threshold don’t indicate a more distant past infection; that the tests only register infection within the last year and that antibodies fall off quickly after that. (I was excited about the possibility of picking up a more distant infection.). Also no idea how this would apply to chronic Lyme; mine did not pick up Lyme antibodies and I’m still quite ill (and initial infections validated in ways mentioned above, diagnosed at top ID dept.)
? “My infections would have been 2006 and 2015”
Sorry, that was confusing. I got pots/CFS and myocarditis in NJ in 2006 and have been sick since. There was a positive Labcorp IGM western blot in my file at the time that was disregarded as a false positive (because pots was believed to be autoimmune and IGG didn’t have enough bands), but I’d had a rash, didn’t know about Lyme, so didn’t understand what it was until later. Stayed housebound for 5 years, improved on my own with no treatment except pots meds. Got bitten again in 2015, again NJ, identified bite, learned it was endemic (I was at grad school so not familiar with the area) and realized what had been going on. Second time more CNS symptoms, Bells Palsy, rash again, diagnosed by a former head of the IDSA who then got mad when doxy didn’t clear my symptoms. Never turned WB positive that time but had a positive Nanotrap. Still sick in 2022. Was hoping the test would show that cool evidence of past exposure discussed above (am I right that’s what we expected?), but for the tick panel, except for Chagas, they’re saying it only shows recent exposure (1 yr), equivocal, or not recently exposed. I was hoping that a high result in the “not recently exposed,” (definitely detectable but below their threshold for equivocal) which I got for Erlichiosis and Anaplasmosis would mean “exposed but not recently” which makes sense right? But they’re saying not. Hope that makes sense. And the Lyme barely showed up, which either means it’s cleared (which I doubt but would be good to know) or that it’s not picking up persistent/chronic form. Still though, fascinating test. Thanks for the tip about it!
I received my Serimmune report today. I was hoping to receive broader immune information. In addition to immune response to your covid vax or illness, they test acute Lyme and Celiac. For those of us with potential long term Lyme illness, the results do not apply. Also, I cannot tell if my immune response to the vax is particularly low since they do not have comparable data for people who were boosted (3rd Pfitzer) many months before the blood draw.
Does anyone know if this is still going on now? No phone number for this company, thats super weird and tacky. A link is still up for the study but there does not seem to be any place to actually sign up
A friend contacted them by email and was still able to get it. It’s a fascinating study — I have my report. Totally legit.
*UPDATE* 10/11/2023 Study Halted
My son & I have donated to this study. I received an email today
“ After 2 1/2 years, we have acquired sufficient study data, and will continue our analyses. However, we will no longer ship new collection kits.” ….Access to the Portal will only be available through 12/31/2023.
Our son has ME/CFS, I donated as a control. The information was interesting. Due to timing, I wasn’t able to participate in their question and answer forums.