by John Herd
johnherd@johnherd.com
I've spent most of my life around medicine. Many in my family were in =20=
medical fields and dinner table talk more often than not was about the =20=
science and politics of medicine.
In my career I worked directly with medical researchers and their data =20=
from initial discoveries, through grant applications, further =20
investigation, publication, and often a decade of seeing the involved =20=
science mature in the scientific evolutionary process.
What this has taught me is that as concrete as an initial finding may =20=
be, it may not be inclusive of the whole picture nor even as it =20
appears under the stringent scientific microscope of the time.
Sometimes a fuller understanding of the matter only becomes clear when =20=
other seemingly disparate pieces of the vast discovery puzzle are =20
realized and multiple pieces of that puzzle are put together.
If one is sitting in the front seat of a roller coaster one can see =20
that one is about to rise up very high, plunge frighteningly downward, =20=
or rush around a seemingly physics defying corner. As the G-forces and =20=
adrenal charges are feeling all consuming one is not apt to =20
necessarily see the ferris wheel to the east, the merry go round to =20
the west or the little girl getting cotton candy to the south.
Such is also often the case when an important scientific discovery is =20=
made. Investigators and interested parties may be so absorbed by the =20
discovery and the initial excitement that they temporarily lose sight =20=
of how much more still remains unknown. This may not be a phenomenon =20
of myopia at all, but rather the very human natural gravitational pull =20=
of the excitement of new discovery.
While the Whittemore-Peterson Institute's discovery of XMRV presence =20
in so many ME/CFS patients is definitely very exciting, the discovery =20=
may be raising as many if not more new questions than it answers.
Here are but a few, all be them very important frontiers of discovery, =20=
that investigators will have to travel into before we can fully =20
understand the XMRV role on ME/CFS.
Given that XMRV is an acquired retrovirus shown in the Whittemore-=20
Peterson Institute findings to be infecting ME/CFS patients, why is it =20=
infecting such a huge percentage of ME/CFS patients and not other =20
people in the healthy public? Are some other factors, genetic or =20
otherwise still unknown factors, causing people afflicted with ME/CFS =20=
to be more susceptible to XMRV infection?
What are the full cascade of biologic events that the XMRV causes, and =20=
do they explain the full spectrum of biologic dysfunctions recognized =20=
as being physiologic components of ME/CFS? How do other types of =20
infections such as HHV-6 or 7, EBV, CMV... that have been observed in =20=
subsets of ME/CFS patients fit into the equation?
How does the XMRV damage various body systems, can the XMRV be =20
eradicated or turned off, and if so can the various kinds of damage to =20=
the body systems be repaired, thereby eliminating ME/CFS symptomatology?
What of ME/CFS patients who may test negative for XMRV and yet have =20
many of the hallmark biologic symptoms of ME/CFS? If not XMRV what is =20=
causing their illness?
Is the XMRV a component of other yet untested medical conditions, and =20=
if so is the physiology of response to it in other conditions the same =20=
biologic response as that observed in ME/CFS patients? If not why? If =20=
XMRV is found to be a component of other conditions, similarities and =20=
differences in how it causes symptomatology in other conditions may =20
garner further insights into its role in ME/CFS.
These questions alone represent huge frontiers of investigation yet =20
untraveled into. This is why I made a donation to the Whittemore-=20
Peterson Institute despite it meaning that I will have to live on =20
rice, soups and other leftovers for the last week of this month.
Undoubtedly many investigators around the world will be and must be =20
involved in exploring all these frontiers.
We as patients must financially support those investigations so they =20
can take place. The more those frontiers are explored and mapped the =20
sooner we may have better healthier lives. And in the meantime many =20
other aspects of ME/CFS research must proceed as well.
Please give until it hurts because doing so may lead to ME/CFS hurting =20=
a lot less down the road.=
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