Anti-viral drug found effective for CFS/ME sufferers
April 16, 2007 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Champion skater Donna Flowers, has been suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, so bad that in some days she would spend 14 hours a day in bed. When her doctor detected high levels of Epstein Barr and human herpes virus-6 infections in her systems, he prescribed valganciclovir to bring her viral load down.
To everyone’s surprise, treating the viral infections also dramatically improved her energy levels.
“I was amazed by the results,” says Professor Jose Montoya, who runs the infectious diseases clinic at Stanford. “Donna was sent to me because high levels of another virus (Epstein Barr) had been detected in her system. “I’d hoped it might help a bit, but I didn’t expect the results to be anything like as dramatic. It was pure serendipity.”
While it’s well known that some patients with CFS have signs of various viral infections, this is the first time that treating one of the viruses has been shown to be so effective.
Valganciclovir is licensed to treat HHV-6 infections of the eye, which can affect transplant or cancer patients with severely weakened immune systems. Prof. Montoya, who has treated hundreds of immuno-compromised patients with the drug, cautioned to monitor carefully because it can results in serious side effects.
HHV-6 is not the same as the herpes virus responsible for cold sores. Most commonly, it causes roseola infantum in children, who get a fever and a rash.
Know more about chronic fatigue syndrome, here.
Tags: human herpes virus, HHV-6, Donna Burden Flowers, valganciclovir, anti-viral drug, chronic fatigue syndrome, ME
I just thought I would let you know that the Marshall Protocl also has been successfully treating CFS patients’. I’m on the protocol right now and have noticed some improvement already.
Sherry – I’m not very familiar with the Marshall protocol. Care to tell me more about it? Especially since it’s one that works and that’s good news for ME patients. I can only imagine how difficult life must be for you and other CFS patients, each little improvement gives you hope to go another day.
my daughter Amy has just had her 15th birthday. we moved from Scotland to Bahamas to live Nov 05. In Sept/Oct 05 she was treated for glandular fever (mono) in Edinburgh but was given the all clear and we made our flights as planned. Amy started getting pains in the middle of her chest which spread to the surrounding rib area and eventually to her back a fw months later. This was diagnosed as chronic costochondritis. Medication for inflammation was continuously having to be given to keep the pain away. (cataflan or voltaren). I got concerned at the amount of medication she was taking. When the pain concentrated more on the left side of her chest I got the Dr to have blood test, ecg and x-rays taken. They appeared fine. A few mths later when no improvement we switched Dr to a pediatric heart specialist who took many tests and also came up with costochondritis and diff med for same. The pain continued. She had to stop all PE at school and any activity caused more pain. The school nurse recommended diff Dr who had her do physiotherapy which seemed to help but once stopped the pain continued. Chiropractioner came next which was useless. She then had cat scan of chest area and Dr sent her to Fla for MRI of her back, all were normal so she suggested a physcologist for stress. I didn’t take her, the only thing stressing her out was that nothing was making her well again. I then tried her with a natural healing Dr who used various massage etc. It seemed to help her back but not chest. The Med Ins did not cover this and it didn’t seem the solution. In the past few months Amy started getting very tired, irritated, headaches, anxiety, panicky and still in pain. I tried yet another Dr who thought to have diff blood samples taken which included EBV. She has a few patients with CFS. Amy”s results were way high. 2499. This was about 4 weeks ago. She gave her some Vit B cocktail injection the first week and told her loads more vits daily, multi, more B’s and C and lots of rest. Well she’s been off sports totally for about a yr and rests when she’s not at school or studying for exams. Another injection the next week and back on voltaren for her costo with ibuprofen when needed plus tonopan for headache. Amy recently started complaining of needles and pins in her legs, then numbness, then pains in her knees. Doc says this cannot have anything todo with the vits. In the last week she’s now saying this has started in her arms and wrists and has problems holding up a book. today her back feels different to the pain she’s had in her back rib area. She’s got 3 end of term exams starting tomorrow and she’s extremely upset and emotional especially about her right wrist and arm and fears she may be unable to write for long enough. The Dr who has diagnosed CFS with the added complicaton of costochondritis was supposed to be looking for a specialist for us and is also considering referring her to neurologist, she thinks MS is a possibility, however although she was very good at keeping in touch with me at first, has not got back to me for over a week and appears to be no further forward with specialist or referral. Meanwhile Amy seems to be getting worse every day. My husband and I don’t know what to do anymore or where next to turn. I heard about Donna Flowers only yesterday and Dr Montoya. How can I reach them. i tried getting tele numbers from Int’l directory assistance with no luck. I’m also just finding out about Lyme and its similarities and feel that Amy’s symptoms are possibly more Lyme like, although never a rash or signs of a tick bite, our dog was infected about 8-6 mths ago and she helped to bath him and apply his treament often removing ticks. Her Dr is unaware of this still as I haven’t been able to speak to her for over a week. As well as her pain etc, she has had one severe bout of stiff neck lasting about 2 days, nausea once or twice, sore tummy, hungry but had enough after 1 or 2 bites. I did not link these to anything other than what they appeared to be. T be honest we knew nothing of CFS, Fibromyalgia, or Lyme until a few weeks ago. I’ve tried to find out as much as I can from the Int but there’s so many sites. Her Dr told us we’d find everything on web.med but I now know there’s so much more. Can anyone help with any of the above info. thanks.