Evidence for Bacterial (Mycoplasma, Chlamydia) and Viral (HHV-6) Co-Infections in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients

Settineri

Ellithorpe³

2014

FFHD

Self Cite

Background: Many chronic diseases and illnesses are associated with one or more chronic infections, dysfunction of mitochondria and reduced production of ATP. This results in fatigue and other symptoms that occur in most if not all chronic conditions and diseases.Methods: This is a review of the published literature on chronic infections in neurodegenerative diseases and fatiguing illnesses that are also typified by mitochondrial dysfunction. This contribution also reviews the use of natural supplements to enhance mitochondrial function and reduce the effects of chronic infections to improve overall function in various chronic illnesses.Results: Mitochondrial function can be enhanced by the use of various natural supplements, notably Lipid Replacement Therapy (LRT) using glyerolphospholipids and other mitochondrial supplements. In various chronic illnesses that are characterized by the presence of chronic infections, such as intracellular bacteria (Mycoplasma, Borrelia, Chlamydia and other infections) and viruses, LRT has proven useful in multiple clinical trials. For example, in clinical studies on chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia syndrome and other chronic fatiguing illnesses where a large majority of patients have chronic infections, LRT significantly reduced fatigue by 35-43% in different clinical trials and increased mitochondrial function. In clinical trials on patients with multiple intracellular bacterial infections and intractable fatigue LRT plus other mitochondrial supplements significantly decreased fatigue and improved mood and cognition.Conclusions: LRT formulations designed to improve mitochondrial function appear to be useful as non-toxic dietary supplements for reducing fatigue and restoring mitochondrial and other cellular membrane functions in patients with chronic illnesses and multiple chronic infections. BackgroundPatients with chronic neurodegenerative, neurobehavioral and fatiguing illnesses commonly test positive for systemic and central nervous system (CNS) bacterial and viral infections [1][2][3]. In addition, other chronic illnesses where neurological manifestations are routinely found, such as autoimmune diseases and other chronic illnesses and disorders, also show evidence of systemic bacterial and viral infections that could be important in disease inception, progression and/or enhancing the types and severities of signs and symptoms [2,3].Evidence of bacterial infections, such as Mycoplasma species, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Borrelia burgdorferi, among others, and viruses, such as human herpesvirus (HHV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpes viruses (HHV) and other viral infections, have revealed high rates of infection in the illnesses listed above that were not found in control populations [1][2][3]. Although the specific roles of chronic infections in various diseases and their pathogeneses have not been carefully determined, the data suggest that chronic bacterial and/or viral infections are common features of essentially all progressive chronic diseases [1][2][3].An...

Section: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Cfs)mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Most CFS patients have multiple chronic bacterial and viral infections [196][197][198][199][200]. A common finding was systemic Mycoplasma species [197,200].…”

Section: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Cfs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Cfs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Cfs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Cfs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Neurodegenerative and Fatiguing Illnesses, Infections and Mitochondrial Dysfunction: Use of Natural Supplements to Improve Mitochondrial Function.

Settineri

Ellithorpe³

2014

FFHD

Self Cite

Evidence for Mycoplasma ssp., Chlamydia pneunomiae, and human herpes virus‐6 coinfections in the blood of patients with autistic spectrum disorders

Gan

J of Neuroscience Research

et al. 2007

Self Cite

We examined the blood of 48 patients from central and southern California diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) by using forensic polymerase chain reaction and found that a large subset (28/48 or 58.3%) of patients showed evidence of Mycoplasma spp. infections compared with two of 45 (4.7%) age-matched control subjects (odds ratio = 13.8, P < 0.001). Because ASD patients have a high prevalence of one or more Mycoplasma spp. and sometimes show evidence of infections with Chlamydia pneumoniae, we examined ASD patients for other infections. Also, the presence of one or more systemic infections may predispose ASD patients to other infections, so we examined the prevalence of C. pneumoniae (4/48 or 8.3% positive, odds ratio = 5.6, P < 0.01) and human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6, 14/48 or 29.2%, odds ratio = 4.5, P < 0.01) coinfections in ASD patients. We found that Mycoplasma-positive and -negative ASD patients had similar percentages of C. pneumoniae and HHV-6 infections, suggesting that such infections occur independently in ASD patients. Control subjects also had low rates of C. pneumoniae (1/48 or 2.1%) and HHV-6 (4/48 or 8.3%) infections, and there were no coinfections in control subjects. The results indicate that a large subset of ASD patients shows evidence of bacterial and/or viral infections (odds ratio = 16.5, P < 0.001). The significance of these infections in ASD is discussed in terms of appropriate treatment.

Could the kynurenine pathway be the key missing piece of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) complex puzzle?

Kavyani

Lidbury

Schloeffel

et al. 2022

Cell. Mol. Life Sci.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex and debilitating disease with a substantial social and economic impact on individuals and their community. Despite its importance and deteriorating impact, progresses in diagnosis and treatment of ME/CFS is limited. This is due to the unclear pathophysiology of the disease and consequently lack of prognostic biomarkers. To investigate pathophysiology of ME/CFS, several potential pathologic hallmarks have been investigated; however, these studies have failed to report a consistent result. These failures in introducing the underlying reason for ME/CFS have stimulated considering other possible contributing mechanisms such as tryptophan (TRP) metabolism and in particular kynurenine pathway (KP). KP plays a central role in cellular energy production through the production of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). In addition, this pathway has been shown to mediate immune response and neuroinflammation through its metabolites. This review, we will discuss the pathology and management of ME/CFS and provide evidence pertaining KP abnormalities and symptoms that are classic characteristics of ME/CFS. Targeting the KP regulation may provide innovative approaches to the management of ME/CFS.