hallelujah: microbes recognized in chronic illness

HALLELUJAH: MICROBES RECOGNIZED IN CHRONIC ILLNESS

Daystar Tue 21 Sept 2004


Well folks....at least this is a step in the right direction. However, the researchers need to add spirochetes and mycoplasmas to their list of agents which cause chronic diseases and syndromes. Fibromyalgia, Lupus, ALS, Alzheimer's, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Bipolar Depression,Gulf War Illness, etc, appear to also be caused by viruses and bacteria.

We musn't let up in our demands which call for recognition and research in this area. Somehow we need to think of ways to make it profitable for the pharmaceutical companies to create cures and promote preventative natural treatments. As it stands now these corporations are finding it much more lucrative to fund research and create drugs which only target the symptoms instead of finding cures. It would be nice if they switched their tactics for humanitarian reasons but unfortunately it's the profits which motivate.

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Sep 16, 2004

Infection eyed as culprit in chronic disease
By Susan J. Landers
Special to Hernando Today (Tampa, FL, USA)

Imagine prescribing Antibiotics for patients with atherosclerosis, or
administering vaccines to prevent schizophrenia. Many researchers are thinking
outside the box and are pursuing the infectious agents they believe might play
a large role in causing chronic diseases.

''It is becoming increasingly acceptable and recognized that infections are
probably an underappreciated cause of chronic disease," said Siobhan O'Connor,
M.D., assistant to the director of the U.S. National Center for Infectious
Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The list of chronic diseases known to be caused by infectious agents is
growing. AIDS, cervical cancer, liver cancer and peptic ulcers all result from
these bugs, and researchers are exploring links to heart disease, additional
cancers and psychiatric disorders. About 70 percent of all deaths in the United
States are caused by chronic diseases, making them a prime target for research
attention.

There was a time when the very idea of an infectious agent causing a chronic
disease brought heaps of scorn upon the scientists who proposed it. That's what
happened in the 1980s, when it was suggested that ulcers were caused by the
bacterium Helicobacter pylori rather than stress and spicy food. Since then, H.
pylori has been linked to duodenal ulcers, gastric cancer and certain types of
lymphomas.

The ulcer story caused a shift in thinking that went well beyond that one
disease, said E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., associate director of laboratory research
at the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. He has been
examining the role of infectious agents in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
''for more years than I care to remember." As for the current status of his
research: ''I wouldn't say we were respectable, but we are no longer not
respectable, either."

His work with Robert H. Yolken, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore, has recently centered on the roles of the
herpes viruses and a parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, as possible triggers for the
psychiatric disorders.

But in general, even if an infection plays some role in chronic disease, it is
hardly the sole cause, experts agree. Torrey and Yolken devised a working
hypothesis, for instance, stating that most cases of schizophrenia are
generated by infections and other environmental events occurring in genetically
susceptible individuals.

The role of genes in many disorders has been recognized for about a century,
Torrey noted, and the hope was that sequencing of the human genome would solve
the riddle of chronic diseases and present a cure.

''If you asked someone in the mid- to late 1980s where we were going
research-wise, they would say these are genetic diseases, and as soon as we get
the human genome sorted out, we will identify the genes involved and we can all
go home and play golf," Torrey said. ''That clearly has not been the case."

What is clear to him is that multiple genes are involved in many diseases, and
evidence points to a link between predisposing genes and infectious agents.
''That made our research of greater interest."

The role of infection in cardiovascular disease is another area that, while not
yet accepted, is attracting notice, particularly since heart disease is the No.
1 killer in the United States.

For example, recent studies have linked several common infections with a
person's risk of developing atherosclerosis. It is possible that a bug causes
the disease, said Michael Dunne, M.D., vice president of clinical development
in infectious disease at the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. Chlamydia
pneumoniae is his prime suspect at the moment. ''If you look at the arteries at
autopsy of people with atherosclerosis, you find evidence of Chlamydia in 50
percent or 60 percent of patients."

''The next step is, can you do anything about it?" Dunne asked. That's where a
series of Antibiotic trials enter the picture. Although early results have not
been positive, the findings from large trials could show whether a course of
Antibiotics is beneficial to heart patients.

Continuing search for MS trigger

The search for an infectious trigger for multiple sclerosis, or MS, also has
been under way for decades, said Richard T. Johnson, M.D., distinguished
professor of neurology, microbiology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine.

When he first began researching the causes of MS in the 1960s, there was a firm
conviction that the disease was due to an external agent, most likely a virus.
But the early suspects turned out to result from mistakes, either
misidentifications or lab contamination. That caused the idea to fall out of
fashion.

Recently, however, interest peaked again. The targets are four rather
ubiquitous agents: Chlamydia pneumoniae, herpes virus 6, Epstein-Barr virus and
endogenous retroviruses. Since all are common, research is focusing on the
quantity of the microbes and their location in the body. ''That's a very
interesting but complicated argument," Johnson said.

New technologies should help with the recognition of novel agents or already
established agents in chronic disease, O'Connor said. ''We also need to design
epidemiologic studies in a more rigorous fashion so they are reproducible," she
added.

Meanwhile, some of the confirmed relationships between infections and chronic
diseases aren't receiving sufficient consideration in the clinical world, she
said. Even the well-established link between H. pylori and peptic ulcers may be
missed.

And other established links, such as that between Lyme disease and neurologic
symptoms, also could go unrecognized, O'Connor said.

There are also prevention opportunities to be seized, she said. For example,
physicians can tell patients that they have the power to prevent some liver
cancers by avoiding exposure to the hepatitis B and C viruses.

MICROBES UNDER SUSPICION
Some scientists contend that a substantial number of chronic diseases could be
linked to infectious agents. The evidence trail is more pronounced for some
than others, but the following were placed under the microscope at a recent
Institute of Medicine Workshop:

Infectious agent: Chronic disease/condition
Chlamydia pneumoniae: atherosclerosis

Enteroviruses: diabetes mellitus type 1

Hepatitis B virus: liver cancer

Herpes simplex virus type 2: schizophrenia

Human papillomavirus: cervical cancer

Measles virus: developmental disabilities

Poliovirus: paralysis

Toxoplasma gondii: schizophrenia

Various viruses: multiple sclerosis

Source: The Institute of Medicine's The Infectious Etiology of Chronic Disease

This story can be found at:
http://www.hernandotoday.com/health/MGBQX5RE7ZD.html
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