Journal of IiME Volume 2 Issue 2 Letter from America A A LLeett tteerr ttoo MMyy EEnnggll ii sshh FF rr iieennddss :: (( ccoonn tt ii nnuueedd )) evidence of several (of the three viruses) simultaneously. I treated my patients specifically by their evidence of the specific virus, and (and this had not been done before), I treated CFS patients, regardless of how long they had been ill, carefully, for at least twelve months. this subject can be the theme of a second “Letter to My English Friends,” thank you again for inviting me to London, May 2008. I carefully followed each patient to avoid possible toxicities of both valcyte and valtrex. There was no harm to any CFS patient with these cautions. Previously, Epstein-Barr alone had been considered to be the possible cause of CFS, and trials of treatment, were limited to ONE MONTH. The result of this “then” state-of-theart evidence based trial was “no benefit, no Epstein-Barr virus cause for CFS.” With our knowledge today, this early trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine was misconceived. CFS is a 3 herpesvirus disease! Longer treatment than one month is needed. Of my 124 CFS patients, the average duration of specific antiviral treatment was 2.9 years, and as presented to you in London, over seventy percent of my patients enjoyed sustained improvement, so that they no longer met international criteria for diagnosis of CFS. The validated metric for measuring the severity of CFS fatigue was the Energy Index Point Score (EIPS). For each average EIPS, at three month intervals, there were an average of 46 CFS patients for each of the 24 three month intervals of the 6 year study. There is a 2:1000 chance of error in these data, or 998 chances of 1000 that CFS is caused by one or several of the three herpesviruses, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus or Human Herpesvirus 6. Sincerely yours, A. Martin Lerner With the invaluable help of the A. Martin Lerner CFS Foundation. www.investinme.org Facts About ME In the UK, patients with autoimmune features and neurological signs and symptoms are usually the most sick and as such they are excluded from studies of "CFS" or chronic fatigue undertaken by psychiatrists, so the results of UK studies from which such patients are excluded are not representative of the true situation. A particularly important piece of research in these patients has demonstrated sensitivity of the vascular endothelium to acetylcholine (a major neurotransmitter and vascular dilator) and this finding may have implications for many other cholinergic pathways (which are extensive throughout the body). (58) - from It now is evident that we have the cause and treatment for CFS. This is evidence-based cause(s) for the complex Chronic Fatigue Syndrome disease. There is also a Group B CFS disease. Perhaps, Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) WHAT IS ME? WHAT IS CFS? INFORMATION FOR CLINICIANS AND LAWYERS Marshall, Williams and Hooper http://www.investinme.org/Article020%20What%20is%20ME%20What%20is %20CFS.htm Page 14/74
15 Publizr Home