MAGICAL MEDICINE: HOW TO MAKE AN ILLNESS ... - Invest in ME

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often precedes the fully developed condition), NK cytotoxicity might be around 13 or 14 percent. (ME)CFS patients
represent the lowest cytotoxicity of all populations we’ve studied” (Nancy Klimas, Professor of Medicine,
University of Miami School of Medicine; Director of Immunology; Director of AIDS Research and Director
of the Allergy Clinic at Miami. Presentation: Immunological Markers in (ME)CFS. The CFIDS Association
Research Conference, November 1990, Charlotte, North Carolina. Reported in CFIDS Chronicle, Spring
1991; pp 47‐50).
1991
“Despite the broad divergence of opinion in the medical community, there is little doubt that classic allergy and atopy
are inexplicably prevalent in (ME)CFS. In a recent study, a high proportion (50%) of patients were found to be
reactive to a variety of inhalant or food allergens when inoculated epicutaneously in the classic manner. Certainly
patients with (ME)CFS differ immunologically from their healthy counterparts and it is this observation, more than
any other today, that is evoked in support of the organic hypothesis of disease causation” (Stephen E Straus. Review
of Infectious Diseases 1991:13: Suppl 1: S2‐S7).
1992
A major study looking at neurological, immunological and virological aspects in 259 (ME)CFS patients
found that neurological symptoms, MRI findings and lymphocyte phenotyping studies suggest that patients
“may have been experiencing a chronic, immunologically mediated inflammatory process of the central
nervous system” and that “ We think that this is probably a heterogeneous illness that can be triggered by different
environmental factors (including stress, toxins and infectious agents), all of which can lead to immune dysfunction and
the consequent reactivation of latent viruses” (D Buchwald, Paul Cheney, Daniel Peterson, Robert C Gallo,
Anthony Komaroff et al. Ann Int Med 1992:116:2:103‐113).
1993
At the 1993 Los Angeles Conference on (ME)CFS, evidence was presented by Professor Nancy Klimas from
the University of Miami that she and her team have been able to accurately predict 88% of (ME)CFS patients
with a mathematical model of immunological parameters. This model combines levels of activated T cells
and CD4 inducers of cytotoxic T cells with NK cell count and function: “In a normal population, 20% of
lymphocytes are active at any given time. ‘In (ME)CFS, up to 80% of the cells are working’. These lymphocytes and
cytokines are so up‐regulated that they cannot be driven any harder. It is as if they have been pushed as far
as they can go and the immune system is completely exhausted” (CFIDS Chronicle: Summer 1993).
1993
“Using the immunophenotypic data presented, we were able to demonstrate that almost 50% of (ME)CFS patients,
especially those with severe symptoms, showed signs of CD8 + cell activation and an abnormal suppressor / cytotoxic
CD8 + cell ratio. Our observations strongly suggest that a large population of (ME)CFS patients have
immunologic disorders and that their symptoms could be explained by a chronic immune activation state
(and) that (ME)CFS represents a type of autoimmune disease in which a chronically activated immune
system reacts against the host. The 3:1 female/male ratio would not be unexpected: autoimmune syndromes are
more common in women. Because of the autoreactive nature of this condition, it might also lead to other
immune disorders, such as well‐recognised autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis” (Jay A Levy et al.
Contemp Issues Infec Dis 1993:10:127‐146).
According to Dr Elizabeth Dowsett, former President of the ME Association, at least 13% of ME/CFS patients
are indistinguishable from patients with multiple sclerosis (personal communication).