New research XMRV +ME/CFS+AUTISM

Post Reply New Topic

A newly identified retrovirus, XMRV has been linked to not only ME/CFS but also to AUTISM.

I was told about it by a neurologist relative last night. Checked out the publication in Nature, then today GOOGLED and found out the connection mentioned on many sites.


This is interesting as I've thought there is a possible link between Autism and ME/CFS, in fact that is how I found WP ( via a search between the 2). Noticed many similarities in Asperger's and CFS..... my family history of both syndromes, often both manifesting in the same individuals.


Anyone else with info on this XMRV?

I'm interested in the possibility of treatment..... NO... I don't think, or for that matter want, a "cure" for Asperger's as that is the person I've been for 62 years. I DO WANT a CURE for the extreme exhaustion I'm currently experiencing. Or at least alleviation of the severe symptoms.

I would refuse a cure as well. What is CFS?

CFS= Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

CFS= Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

I'm confused. What other links are there to CFS and autism? The closest I can think of is the fact that CFS can be misdiagnosed for Celiac's Disease, which is associated with autism.

Many links.....
Stimulation overload
Sensory overload,
many allergies particularly gluten and dairy.
Tiredness
Sleep difficulties
I googled ME/CFS +ASperger's ASD and found a medical research article that demonstrated a strong correlation between the bacterial infections and /or viral present in each population.

That is many analytical findings were unusually similar in people with ME/CFS and ASD.

I thought CFS was because a person catches a virus when young and for some reason the immune system goes haywire later on. For example, glandular fever.

That is part of the theory, but new research is giving more insights.
There are specific websites that deal with ME/CFS, you'll find more detailed onfo there. I would provide more except that I'm in a huge relapse and don't have the clarity of mind or energy to do so at present.

[quote="Dancyclancy"]

>A newly identified retrovirus, XMRV has been linked to not only ME/CFS but also to AUTISM.

[quote="Dancyclancy"]


There's a discussion of the link between XMRV and autism on a Cort Johnson's ME/CFS forums at the Phoenix Rising. I'm not allowed to post the address because this is my first post here. The research was headed by the Whittemore-Peterson Institute (a private group), and it had built-in replication by researchers at the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic. It was published in the October 8 issue of Science, a prestigious journal.

A quote from the discussion: "Researchers tested blood samples from a "small group of children" with autism and found that 40% of them were positive for XMRV, according to a statement from the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders. More testing is underway which, the Commission said, "could dramatically increase that 40% positive finding." (Given the small sample size, such a statement is purely speculative)."

>I was told about it by a neurologist relative last night.

Glad to hear that! XMRV is the third retrovirus to be discovered. The first (I think) was HTLV, linked to leukemia. The second was HIV, linked to AIDs. The third is XMRV, linked to aggressive prostate cancer and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. (And autism?) Much more research needs to be done! This retrovirus can be transmitted through blood, but not much more is known about transmission. It's an exogenous retrovirus, and replicates in humans. It's more closely related to HTLV than to HIV. It's also closely related to MuLV, a retrovirus that is found only in mice and causes leukemia in them. Some scientists think that MuLV jumped from mice to humans and became XMRV.

For the record, the CDC and NIH have been trying for 25 years to pass CFS off as a psychiatric disease, and any research money they have spent has been to support their point of view. It's not a psychiatric disease. It began with cluster outbreaks in the 1980s (about 1984?)--clusters of previously healthy people suddenly becoming deathly ill and remaining so for the rest of their lives--and I think researchers will be testing some of the specimens from those clusters if they haven't already done so.

I'm interested in the years of the cluster outbreaks. During what years was there a big increase in autism? Today I just read some interesting German research on a synthetic retrovirus that began contaminating lab lines in the 1980s.

>Anyone else with info on this XMRV?

One of the Whittemore-Peterson researchers will be speaking for an hour on XMRV at a meeting of the CFS Advisory Committee (CFSAC) in Washington D.C. tomorrow, October 29, 10:30 a.m. It will be videocast live on the web. You can google for the agenda.

Hi MYRTIE! Thanks so much for the information. I was able to access a brief snippet about XMRV from Nature ( Medical Journal ) on the web.

Will try to obtain the agenda for the meeting you mentioned from the web. I'm in Australia and research into both ME/CFS and Autism is quite slow and even slower in actually implementing testing and /or programs to assist adults with either of these syndromes.
If you have any more info feel free to PM me, OK!
Thanks!

Hello.

I found this discussion interesting. I have suffered from various health problems for a long time. They suspected lupus but I tested negative for the anti bodies. It is still possible that I have lupus, but unlikely. I also have HFA.

When I googled my symptoms ME/CFS came up (perfectly describes my problems) and I noticed how similar some of those symptoms are to autism, for instance problems dealing with sensory impressions.

I started to wonder how many people with autism spectrum disorders also suffer from things like ME and or migraines and epilepsy. Perhaps there are certain illnesses that overlap autism and are common among us.

For instance, something common with autistic people is how we can "disappear" when dealing with (or rather unable to deal with) sensory overload and stress. Is that not a form of epilepsy, a so called petit mal? I can "wake up" on the bus having missed my station and I have completely lost sense of time and who I am and where I am. As if some rude person had decided to press an invisible pause button on me while the rest of the world goes on as usual. I have never heard anyone mention epilepsy and its link to autism before. Is it known, has there been studies?

I get bad migraine attacks, also linked to sensory overload and stress. I am curios whether it is common among people with autism spectrum disorders or not. Epilepsy, autism and ME/CFS are labelled as neurological disorders. Perhaps having one makes you more likely to have the other.

I couldn't help but wonder if not some of the ME/CFS patients could perhaps in fact be undiagnosed autistic people and even if ME/CFS could be a complication to autism where the neurological problems also cause problems with the immune system and failures with how pain signals are perceived by the brain and such things. Inability to sort sensory impression can wear you out and cause fatigue, I know that first hand, and it's present both in autism and ME.

The problem is that where I live (Sweden) ME/CFS isn't recognised as a diagnosis. Instead they claim that all problems are caused by depression. I'm not depressed. At all. In fact I truly, fully enjoy life and I think this is by far the happiest period of my life right now. It's annoying and frustrating when someone tries to force an emotion on you that you don't feel.

When dealing with doctors it seems that as soon as I mention I have autism they automatically assume that I'm mentally ill. Instead of taking my medical problems seriously they want it to be because I have autism. Obviously I must be depressed because I have autism seems to be the way they think.
If I would ask around among people with autism spectrum disorders I suspect a majority would say they are happy being who they are and many consider it a blessing. Like myself. Nothing to feel depressed about.

Anyway, I am curious whether autism spectrum people also have other neurological problems and if so it occurs among us more often than other people. Does anyone know?

Peace and Love, Linn