On 10 Jan 1996, GUSTAVO PALACIOS wrote:
>>> I am a young researcher here in Argentina and we have had a few problems =
> with the Polio vacunation. We have some problems too because we have =
> some cases of Meningitis Enterovirales that can't be serotyped but that =
> are positive by generic PCR (Test that is positive for the Enterovirus =
> Group). Do you know any work about Genotyping of the Enterovirus Group ? =
> Some Web page about this problem or about ENTEROVIRUS ?=20
> Thanks
> Gustavo Palacios
Dear Gustavo,
You wrote me to ask about FM/CFIDS/ME. ME stands for Myalgic
Encephelomyelitis. This is a disease which has been known by many
names. It occurs in epidemics sometimes, and often is called by the name
of the place in which the outbreak occurred. There have been clusters in
the United States since a outbreak in Yerington, Nevada in 1974-5. There
was a cluster in Incline Village, Nevada in 1984 and an epidemic in San
Francisco in 1980. I had the disease in 1980, but the virus I contracted
in the epidemic made me much worse. It was almost a year before I could
even climb the stairs out of my house. I have heard of it getting
diagnosed as Viral Menningitis in the United States in 1978. I do not
know if that is one of its names.
Like AIDS, people who have it contract many other viruses over
time. These are viruses which generally do not bother healthy people if
they have them in their bodies. There is another class of viruses
however which only people with CFIDS have. They may vary from region to
region. Because they are markers for the disease, they are sometimes
used as diagnostic tests with many other blood tests. There have been
research studies showing that about 1/2 of the people with the disease
have Enterovirus or EBV virus perfusion of muscle tissue which was seen
on biopsy. I have never seem anything about spinal fluid, but I suspect
there might be some result there as well. The studies were in a report
on the Cambridge Conference on Myalgic Encephelomyelitis held in the late
1980's. If you need more specific references, I will try to look them
up.
I'm sorry I can't write more right now. I am still very ill. I
will be glad though to answer any questions you, or anyone else, have
about this disease. I am not a doctor or a researcher, just a very sick
journalist. I hope someone answers your question soon.
KW
