Judy Mikovits remembers that "eureka" moment when she realized that she and her team of researchers at the Whittemore-Peterson Institute in Reno had discovered a new retrovirus that could lead to a possible treatment, even a vaccine, to combat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
"It was January 22, and we were in a San Diego restaurant called the Yard House," said Mikovits, who had gone there with fellow scientist Vincent Lombardi to present the results of their research to Frank Ruscetti and Robert Silverman, two of the world's leading virologists.
"We kept waiting for them to say something," Mikovits said. "I was nauseous. Bob (Silverman) waited a long a time, and then he looked up and said, 'Well, this is going to change their world.'"
And it has.
The research resulted in a paper that was published last month in a prestigious scientific journal, which set off a flurry of media coverage that put the Whittemore-Peterson Institute and Reno's name in reports from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC.The institute's finding also ...
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Letters
A New Health Policy for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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To the Editor:
Re “A Case of Chronic Denial,” by Hillary Johnson (Op-Ed, Oct. 21), about chronic fatigue syndrome:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one million to four million people in the United States have chronic fatigue syndrome, with approximately 80 percent of these cases undiagnosed. Furthermore, the C.D.C. has indicated that chronic fatigue syndrome is a debilitating illness with a yearly economic impact of at least $9.1 billion.
Despite its prevalence, morbidity and economic impact, chronic fatigue syndrome ranks near the bottom in federal research funding of more than 200 diseases and conditions.
In 25 years of research on chronic fatigue syndrome, no demonstrable progress has been made in identifying objective criteria for diagnosis and treatment. Nor have physicians been properly educated to care for these patients.
The illness continues to be stigmatized as frank malingering or a nonserious psychiatric disorder. It is time for a thorough overhaul of public health policy toward this debilitating illness.
Fred Friedberg
Stony Brook, N.Y., Oct. 23, 2009
Hemispherx Biopharma Updates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Treatment and Commercial...
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS124102+02-Nov-2009+GNW20091102
WOOHOO!
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