The Symposium on Viruses in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - An Overview

[Guest guest]

Welcome to a special edition of Phoenix Rising. In this edition we cover the

first conference ever devoted specifically to viruses in chronic fatigue

syndrome (ME/CFS): the Symposium on Viruses in CFS. The Symposium took place

directly after the International HHV-6 Conference in Baltimore, Md. in May of

this year. It featured a who-who's lineup of speakers in CFS research including

Dr. Montoya, Dr. Kerr, Dr. Klimas, Dr. Vernon, Dr. Lloyd, Dr. Peterson, Dr.

Chia, Dr. De Meirleir and others.

 

ME/CFS patients also turned out in force. By the time the 'Symposium' was

underway the room was as full as it ever was during the three day HHV-6

'Conference'. Dr. Vollmer-Conna marvelled at all the patients present stating

she'd

never seen anything like it at a scientific conference.

 

The infectious side of the research community may be the most innovative and

creative of all. During the conference we got introduced to intriguing

questions such as:

 

*** Is a difficult to detect central nervous infection responsible for the

mood disorders in ME/CFS?

 

*** Could an endogenous retrovirus residing in ME/CFS patients DNA somehow

have sprung to life?

 

*** Could a smoldering infection in the heart be causing the fatigue in

ME/CFS?

 

 

 

*** Is there a distinct neuro-immune fatigue subset in this disease?

 

*** Are we close to finding an immune biomarker for this disease?

 

*** Has the Dubbo team figured out what happens as people come down with

ME/CFS during an infection?

 

*** How well do antiviral drugs work and what kinds of drugs are in the

pipeline?

 

*** Are entire networks of cells acting strangely in ME/CFS?

 

The overview of the conference comes in two parts.

 

Part I

_http://phoenix-cfs.org/ConHHV6PtI.html_

(http://phoenix-cfs.org/ConHHV6PtI.html)

Part II _http://phoenix-cfs.org/ConHHV6PtII.html_

(http://phoenix-cfs.org/ConHHV6PtII.html)

 

Next up an interview with Dr. Chia

 

Cort