Who will do well with antiviral therapy?

CFS Patient Advocate:

Dr. Dale Guyer
Can we predict which patients will do well with antiviral therapy?

Overall, it would appear that patients who fare better have a classic “viral” provoke history - i.e., they had a case of a “viral-like” illness, never got better, and over time keep going downhill. Duration of symptoms may be six months or 20 years.

I have observed a few cases where these symptoms started after receiving a vaccine, such as the flu vaccine, and another case that appeared to begin after receiving a tetanus vaccine.

In addition, patients will have consistent lab findings, including: depressed natural killer cells, low adrenal function, hormone deficiencies, elevated RNase-L3 levels, and elevated viral antibodies to Human Herpesvirus Six (HHV-6), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and occasionally other viruses.

As a rule of thumb, individuals who experience milder symptoms of shorter duration [accompanied by elevated levels of] IgG (Immunoglobulin G) to EBV seem to do well with Famvir.

However, patients more severely affected for a longer duration with antibodies more skewed to HHV-6 or CMV will often need Valcyte. Read more>>