Mike “The Health Ranger” Adams, of NaturalNews.com, has written an article making a blanket statement about chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis in the wake of the recent big discovery of an XMRV retrovirus by the Whittemore Peterson Institute (a non-profit organization) found in 95% of CFS/ME patients. Adams claims in his article that there is no such thing as a virus that causes CFS and says that this latest news is “Big Pharma’s disease mongering engine hard at work” to lay the foundation for a future CFS vaccine program.
I usually agree with Mike Adams on a lot of his statements but I am disturbed in this case. His blanket statements do not reflect a familiarity with the long and complicated political history of CFS/ME, and his article does not reference this history, so its natural to wonder whether he even has an awareness of it. In the past, researchers who tried to present findings on an AIDS-like virus seen in CFS patients were vilified by the CDC and medical community.
Mike discounts the “germ theory,” stating:
People with CFS have compromised immune systems, and in this state of weakened immunity, they are unable to rid their bodies of not just XMRV, but many other viruses as well. The presence of this virus is a symptom of the disease, not the cause.
But then he does not go on to specifically propose what he thinks the cause of CFS is. Now don’t get me wrong; Mike Adams might be right. It just doesn’t sit well with me to read an article based on medical “stereotypes” rather than the specifics of this complicated disease’s history.
It’s one thing to dismiss the germ theory but one can’t deny that certain bacteria and viruses cause symptom sets in human beings. And ultimately, whether XMRV is the cause or a symptom itself of CFS won’t matter if treating it alleviates some of the horrible symptoms of the illness. I would like to hear from Mike Adam’s what he believes to be the true cause of CFS/ME.
A next great article would compare the specific history of AIDS to the specific history of CFS. There are a lot of theories about AIDS and some have said HIV does not necessarily even cause AIDS; much like what Adams is saying here about XMRV and CFS/ME has been said about HIV in relation to AIDS – that it is not a causal relationship.
It would be great if Adams would flesh out those theories for these two serious health conditions with related retroviruses rather than make sweeping statements that do not reflect the specific history of the diseases. I am wondering what the CFS community, which has been vocal about its excitement over this discovery, thinks about his article, as well. Care to comment? read Mike Adams’ article on XMRV
Reposting comments made on Facebook about this article:
Shandy Monte
I have been asking myself the same question.. I think everyone has virus’s in their body.. it is only SOMETHING that triggers them to become pathogenic… (i hope I am saying that right) I believe that we all have these things in us… look at some who test positive for lyme but NEVER EVER have a symptom of lyme…. untill WAM something stresses them for it to become active.. (my case) … I think he MAY be somewhat right… Look on my links.. there is a video about the man who discovered HIV.. he says that this virus can be cleared by the body… watch it.. pretty interesting stuff… makes you think…
We are just a huge walking talking bacteria.. we are made up of bacteria.. we have bacteria all through our bodies and ON our bodies… we catch all these viru’s probably daily that our immune systems just clear out… and then we have something that activates as a “active” infection with symptoms… just speaking out loud and not doing a good job of explaing myself.. grrrr…
Peggy Munson
Okay I’ll admit I haven’t read the article yet, because I’m having trouble with links on my computer right now, but I feared this kind of backlash and encourage people to really delve into the facts — particularly by reading Hillary Johnson’s blog at http://www.oslersweb.com (esp. the “Why” speech) — before coming to any conclusions about what’s real in this illness and the media. Believe me, for those of us who had an onset that looked identical to any other viral encephalitis, a virus seems incredibly obvious.
It is only due to propaganda that this illness is viewed by anyone as vague or a “wastebasket diagnosis” — or, as Dr. Bell put it, while polio caused some people to have a flu-like illness and others to be paralyzed, that does not make a case for a multi-causal condition.
XMRV is a retrovirus — not to be confused with another type of virus that has different properties. People with HIV (another retrovirus), for example, have a ton of other viruses and bacteria, the same ones ME/CFS patients have — as well as fungal infections caused by candida, etc. So while they may have several herpesviruses such as CMV, HHV-6, or EBV, those viruses are BECAUSE OF the retroviral infection. CMV or HHV-6 alone are not gateway viruses: they don’t open the body to a flood of other infections. Retroviruses, on the other hand, do this.
It should also be noted (read Johnson’s “Why” speech) that the CDCs efforts to do HIGHLY-FUNDED negative PR around this illness have included specific efforts to make it seem vague or multi-causal (they particuarly want to emphasize the cause of “stress”), to make it seem like it has no center — and furthermore, on a more icky note, one gov’t ME/CFS head went on to lead the gov’ts program on complimentary and alternative medicine, and another got a position in mind-body medicine. These were not guys who were interested in alternative medicine: they simply went on to dispense the government’s propaganda around the so-called vague chronic illnesses through a venue where they could use subtle patient-blaming language and detract attention from the huge pile of published scientific studies on the etiology of the illness.
Of course we all have bacteria, viruses, metals, and environmental toxins to deal with — but that does not make HIV vague, nor does it make XMRV vague.
Robin Shay
That makes sense, Peggy. I am wondering about those of us who did not start with viral symptoms and what the symptoms of viral encephalitis are. The test will probably answer that question. People do carry this and do not get ill. So.. something triggers the XMRV I would suppose which then seems to possibly act like a master destructor. Cant get rid of it, so it will go into remission which means whatever triggers it has to be addressed.
Peggy Munson
I just looked at the article. It’s beyond idiotic to claim that “Big Pharma” is behind the discovery of XMRV in ME/CFS, as Mike Adams claims. Um, excuse me, but there are NO — I repeat — NO drugs approved by the FDA for this disease. Big Pharma has ignored it since the early 80s, so why would they suddenly be falling all over themselves to create some kind of conspiratorial virus theory? For a vaccine?
People are so unafraid of this disease since the CDC has poured millions of dollars into negative PR to make it seem like a fainting rich woman’s disease that I really doubt that people are going to go into a hysterical feeding frenzy over a vaccine.
In terms of those who didn’t start with viral symptoms, Shay, probably HIV is the best parallel, as a retrovirus. People can have HIV for years and not know it. It is generally not until they get a secondary, opportunistic infection that they realize they have HIV. This does not mean the secondary infection is a co-cause. It simply means the immunological dysfunction can take awhile to manifest. With other people it may come more quickly.
Robin, I just accidentally called you by your last name, sorry : ) — and there you have it, the symptoms of encephalitis.