Thought this was fairly important in light of previous discussions. From the stealth virus list via the coconut-info list.
Ivan. ============================= HEAD THE WARNINGS OF DR MARTIN...the virologist with the best knowledge I know of my children's etiology at least.of their autism...(and my families-which we all tested postiive). Kathy Blanco ----- Original Message ----- From: <c...@e...> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2001 7:30 PM Subject: [TheStealthVirusSupportGroup] Welcome back Lynn Dear Members of Lynn Knapp's stealth virus support group, I was very pleased to see Lynn resume her valuable role in providing information to the group. She has an excellent understanding of the range of illnesses experienced by stealth virus infected patients. I will try to provide frequent updates on stealth viruses and will also help Lynn respond to some of the questions being posed. The following notes are from a recent talk I prepared on stealth viruses and autism. Similar comments apply to children with attention deficit hyperactivity and various other conduct disorders. Stealth-Adapted Viruses: The Cause of Autism? Introduction Autism is a diagnostic label applied to neurological disorders of early childhood onset. It manifests as deficits in communication and in other social interactive skills. Considerable variability exists in the severity of disease in autistic patients, with somewhat arbitrary distinctions between autism and childhood disintegration disorder at one end and delayed normal development at the other extreme. Autistic patients will commonly show a wider variety of clinical manifestations than implied by a single diagnostic label. While many millions of dollars have been spent on autism-related research, only a few studies have provided important insights into the underling cause, prevention and treatment of this disease. This talk will provide a brief summary of generally accepted research views on autism and a lengthier discussion of some of the more controversial opinions. The argument will be presented that autism is essentially an encephalopathy of stealth-adapted viral origin. Research findings on a stealth-adapted virus that arose from the species of monkeys used to produce poliovirus vaccine will be summarized. Sequencing of this virus has suggested specific therapeutic approaches to the treatment of patients with autism and other stealth-virus related clinical conditions. Preliminary clinical experience with some of these approaches has been encouraging and indicates the need for formal therapeutic trials. Studies also need to be pursued into the modes of stealth-virus replication and transmission of what may well prove to be a major threat to the survival of mankind. Generally Accepted Research Views on the Nature of Autism 1. Autism has a Genetic Component: This is apparent from the higher incidence of autism among boys. It is also supported by the relative concordance of disease among monozygotic (genetically identical) twins compared to dizygotic (genetically different) twins. Still there are numerous examples where only one of two genetically identical twins has the disease. Genetics may well be a contributing factor to the expression of autism, but it is clearly not the only component to this (or these) diseases. 2. Brain Abnormalities in Autistic Children: Head circumference has been accepted as a marker of brain size. While normal at birth, the head circumference of 1-2 year old autistic children is reportedly slightly enlarged. Brain imaging has also shown enlargements in certain regions of the brain, most noticeably in parts of the cerebellum. Equally impressive are various functional studies that show deficits in brain activation upon certain types of sensory stimulation and in blood flow patterns in autistic children. The question arises whether these changes are a consequence of autism, rather than its cause. Limited histopathological studies on brain tissue from autistic patients support the view that certain brain cells are damaged and/or do not normally develop. 3. Biochemical Indications of a Prenatal Disorder. As recently reported, elevated levels of one or more neuropeptides are present in neonatal blood samples obtained from children who subsequently were diagnosed as autistic. The source of the elevated neuropeptides was presumed to be the brain but this was not established. The actual levels of various neuropeptides examined differed among autistic children, but as a group the autistic children were readily distinguishable from normal children. Somewhat confounding, however, was that similar elevations were consistently also found in blood samples collected from mentally retarded children. Mental retardation had not previously been linked with autism and clearly differs with respect to the smaller than normal head circumference seen at birth. Controversial Issues Relating to Autism 1. Autism is the Result of Vaccination. Reports of marked clinical deterioration and even the initial onset of autism within days of receiving a vaccination has prompted the view that the vaccine has caused the illness. Initially the focus was on diphtheria/petussis/tetanus (DPT) vaccine but more recently it has been on live measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine. In the case of measles, vaccine-derived viral material has been seen using immunohistochemistry and molecular based assays within hyperplastic lymphoid tissue present in the gastrointestinal tract of autistic children. Similar findings were found in non-autistic children with lymphoid hyperplasia. Although there are reasons for concerns with live viral vaccines, including the finding of retroviral related reverse transcriptase activity in MMR vaccines, a primary etiological role of measles vaccine virus is not supported by data indicating prenatal abnormalities. A detrimental effect of MMR vaccine has also been dismissed with results of various epidemiological studies failing to show statistically significant correlation between vaccine usage and disease prevalence. 2. Autism is a Primary Biochemical Disorder. Urine analyses on autistic children have shown markedly elevated levels of various peptides as well as other types of metabolic products. An inference is that the levels of these chemicals would also be increased in the brain and that they somehow interfere with normal brain function. A prime example is the opiate-like peptides resulting from incomplete digestive breakdown of casein and gluten proteins. This view is bolstered by noticeable clinical improvements in some autistic children when placed on a casein and gluten free diet. Peptides from abnormal bacterial and fungal bowel flora may also been suggested as having neuroregulatory activity whose levels may be reduced by antibiotics. A role for cell associated peptidase is suggested by unpublished studies that peptidase IV inhibitory fragments may also be present in the urine of some autistic children. Autism: A Stealth-Adapted Viral Encephalopathy I am proposing that autism is primarily a prenatal infection that involves the brain and occurs in a genetically predisposed individual. The infection renders the person susceptible to further brain damage from vaccines and other environmental factors. Several lines of evidence support the stealth virus cause of autism. For example: 1. Blood samples from autistic children consistently induce a readily identifiable cytopathic effect (CPE) using viral culture methods adapted for the detection of stealth-adapted viruses. Stealth virus testing of blood samples from autistic children has been subjected to formal "double blind" analyses. Furthermore, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and gastrointestinal biopsy have similarly yielded positive cultures. 2. There is good evidence for stealth virus infections among family members of autistic children. Many of the family members will, upon close questioning, reveal symptoms of neurological and/or immunological dysfunction. 3. Autistic patients will not infrequently display positive results in assays intended to detect conventional virus and bacterial pathogens. As discussed below, such results can be attributed to cross-reactivity with stealth virus components. When will the stealth virus theory of autism be accepted and supported by i) researches, ii) Public Health authorities, and iii) families with affected children. The answer to the first point is when it is clearly proven that stealth-adapted viruses, as presently defined, do exist as novel pathogens. This challenge, as well as the goal of eliciting official Public Health involvement, will occur when the message gets across that the extensively sequenced prototype stealth-adapted virus is atypically structured and that it arose as a probable contaminant of poliovaccine production. Finally, parents will begin to focus their energies on the stealth-adapted viruses infecting their children once they begin to see real clinical improvements based on anti-stealth virus therapies. Sequencing Studies on an African Green Monkey Derived Simian Cytomegalovirus (SCMV) These studies unequivocally establish the origin of an atypically structured cytopathic virus as being from SCMV. For certain regions of the stealth viral genome, there is over 90% identity between the nucleotide sequences of the stealth virus and that of the Colburn strain of SCMV. Yet in other regions, the two viruses differ in a manner that is best explained by genetic instability in viral replication and by the selection of genetic changes that favor viral survival and avoidance of immune recognition. Of particular note is that the virus failed to evoke an inflammatory reaction in either the patient from whom it has been repeatedly cultured, or from the cats in which it induced considerable brain damage. To date, the genes that would otherwise encode the major antigens targeted by anti-CMV cytotoxic T lymphocytes have not been detected. Nor do the viral cultures react with antibodies against several antigens shared by human and simian CMV. Over 120,000 nucleotide sequence data have been compiled on the stealth-adapted virus. Long regions of contiguous sequences suggests the coding of somewhat truncated proteins in comparison to the coding potential of the comparable region of the human CMV genome. To help clarify the extent to which these changes reflect the preexisting SCMV genome, or are part of a mutational process occurring within a genetically unstable stealth-adapted virus, sequencing is underway on an authentic monkey-derived SCMV. Even at this stage of the work, is abundantly clear that stealth adaptation involves much more than simple deletion/mutation of particular genes targeted by the cellular immune system. For example, there is a striking over representation of certain genes. Of particular interest, is the finding of multiple copies of genes implicated in the production of, and providing receptors for, potent growth factors called chemokines and present within the virus. This observation strongly suggests the potential value of suppressing chemokine production in this particular patient. Another striking feature of the DNA analysis is the presence of particular cellular genes adjacent to viral genes. A prime example is the three copies of a cellular chemokine-related gene within the viral genome. These virus-incorporated cell-derived genes do not contain normal stretches of non-coding sequences (introns) that are present in the cell DNA. This would indicate that the recombination process allowing cell-derived genes to become incorporated into a replicating stealth virus had occurred at a partially processed RNA, rather than at a DNA level. If so, it would indicate a role for endogenouse reverse transcriptase in stealth virus assembly and replication. Several other cell-derived sequences are more readily amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assays performed on the stealth virus culture than when performed on uninfected cultures, suggesting that the sequences may have been incorporated as part of the stealth virus replication process. Various bacterial-derived sequences have also been extracted from the cultures. The bacterial sequences are of particular interest since, along with additional data, it appears that the virus is able to pass into, and, therefore, be potentially metabolically empower and be transmitted by bacteria. Taken together, the data are consistent with a viral replicative process that allows the assimilation of extraneous sequences of cellular, bacterial and possibly fungal origins. Addressing this situation is particularly urgent since among the potential activities of cell derived genes, including chemokine-inducing and chemokine-receptor genes, are the induction of malignant changes. The prospect of highly infectious bacteria carrying cancer causing genes is a serious concern that, so far, has been brushed aside by those responsible for overseeing the Nation's health. Stealth-adapted viruses that have incorporated bacterial sequences are referred to as "viteria." Work is underway to confirm that such organisms can be mistaken for actual bacteria in conventional assays for such pathogens as Borrelia burgdoferi, Mycoplasma incognitus, Chlamydia pneumonia, etc. Many bacterial proteins have a propensity to evoke allergic reactions offering a possible explanation for such reactions among autistic children. Stealth Adaptation as a Generic Process CPE generally similar to that shown with the SCMV-derived stealth-adapted virus has been consistently seen with blood samples from many other patients. Most of these isolates do not react particularly strongly with antibody and molecular based probes that are highly reactive with the prototype SCMV-derived stealth-adapted virus. This finding suggests marked structural variability and probable multiple, diverse origins of stealth-adapted viruses. Limited sequence and antibody staining data on some of these additional isolates are consistent with origins from other herpesviruses, including Epstein-Barr virus and human herpesvirus-6; and also from such diverse viruses as parvovirus, adenovirus and enteroviruses. The addition of various live viruses to positive stealth virus cultures can lead to enhanced CPE, suggesting the possibility of reciprocal viral stimulation and even the recombinant formation of new viral constructs. This potentiating effect has been noted using live measles and other viral vaccines. It is also reasonable to assume that certain stealth viruses may retain some components that would normally not be involved in evoking cellular immunity, but in the presence of a powerful immune stimulant (such as provided by DPT vaccine) could become a target for cell damaging immunity. A topic of interest is whether stealth-adapted viruses cultured from autistic children will show any distinguishing characteristics from those cultured from patients with other disease manifestations. Given the overall similarity in the CPE seen when tested blood samples from autistic and non-autistic family members, it seems likely that a similar virus is involved and that clinical manifestation relates to sex, other genes and time and location of infection. Implications for Patients with Autism Specific testing for cell derived chemokine genes, as are present in cultures of the prototype stealth virus, has yet to be performed on stealth virus cultures from patients with autism. Clinically, however, drugs that are known to down regulate chemokines are finding increasing use in patients with other stealth-virus associated diseases, including depression, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and CFS. Of particular interest are many of the disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS). Some clinicians have also anecdotally noted symptomatic improvement with Acyclovir, an anti-herpesviral drug. Progress in this field will require disciplined clinical trials with close monitoring of patients using both clinical markers and semi-quantitative stealth virus cultures. In the meantime, work needs to be continued on the development of more specific therapies that are based on a more detailed understanding of the mode of stealth virus replication. Positive blood cultures is a sign of a body wide infection that can potentially cause multi-organ damage (both as the result of direct virus damage and an evoked auto-immune response). Rather than being viewed narrowly as a neuropsychiatric illness confined to the brain, autism should be viewed as a generalized viral infectious process that also involves the brain. Specific testing for endocrine disorders, gastroenteropathy, liver damage, allergies, etc., should be part of the overall medical profile of any stealth virus infected patient. The finding of a positive stealth virus culture in a child is probably sufficient reason to avoid the intense immunological stimulation associated with DPT vaccine and also to not add extraneous infectious viruses in the form of MMR and live poliovirus vaccine. Acceptance of an infectious cause of autism can help explain the occurrence of stealth-virus associated illness among other family members. Certainly other family members should be tested for infection. The socially difficult issue of possible contagion to classmates, schoolteachers, non-infected family members, etc., is better addressed than denied. Summary Autism is a clinical label referring to a set of symptoms that can occur as a result of infection with atypically structured, poorly immunogenic (stealth-adapted) viruses. This conclusion should help reorient the clinical approach to the diagnosis, therapy and prevention of this illness. -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
