AHMF: Conf 2001: GL Nicolson

Diagnosis and treatment of multiple, chronic bacterial and viral infections in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Gulf War Illnesses

Prof. G. L. Nicolson, M. Nasralla, X. Gu, R. Gan and N. Nicolson

The Institute for Molecular Medicine,
Huntington Beach,
California USA

International Molecular Diagnostics,
Huntington Beach, California USA
Tel: +1-714-903-2900
Fax: +1-714-379-2082
Email: gnicolson@immed.org

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Gulf War Illness (GWI) have overlapping signs and symptoms [1]. We found that a major source of morbidity is caused by various chronic viral and bacterial infections [2-5]. Using the techniques of Nucleoprotein Gene Tracking (NGT) and Forensic Polymerase Chain Reaction-Hybridization (FPCR) we examined 200 ME/CFS pts and 200 GWI patients and their immediate symptomatic family members. GWI pts (~40%) had mycoplasmal infections inside blood leukocytes, but not in blood plasma or serum. The most common species (~80%) was M. fermentans. In contrast, in nondeployed, healthy adults the incidence of mycoplasma+ pts was ~6% [6,7]. In ME/CFS/FMS pts (~50%) we found a variety of mycoplasma species (M. fermentans, M. pneumoniae, M hominis, M. penetrans, M. genitalium) [8]. RA pts also had high frequencies of mycoplasmal infections (~45%) of various species [9]. We examined ME/CFS pts for other bacterial (Chlamydia pneumoniae+ ~7%) and viral (HHV-6+ ~28%) infections and found that of the mycoplasma+ and HHV-6+ pts ~7.2% and 7%, respectively, were also Cp+. Similarly, ~27% of the mycoplasma+ pts were also HHV-6+, indicating that there was no particular preference for specific multiple infections in ME/CFS pts. Mycoplasma+ and Cp+ pts have been successfully treated with multiple 6-wk cycles of antibiotics: doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin or clarithromycin plus nutritional support [4-7], and HHV-6+ pts were treated with immune enhancement (IE). All pts on antibiotic/IE relapsed within wks after the first cycle of therapy, but after up to 6-cycles most recovered. Pts who recovered no longer tested mycoplasma+ [5-7]. We conclude that subsets of GWI, ME/CFS, FMS and RA pts have transmittable chronic bacterial and viral infections, and treatment of these chronic pts with appropriate therapy can result in slow recovery. These illnesses may be due, in part, to multiple chemical/biological exposures (including vaccines) that cause multi-factorial illnesses, some of which involve chronic bacterial and viral infections [11,12].

1. Nicolson, G.L. and Nicolson, N.L. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 1996; 38:14-16.
2. Nicolson, G.L., Nasralla, M, Haier, J. and Nicolson, N.L Biomed. Therapy 1998; 16:266-271.
3. Nicolson GL, Nasralla M, Haier J, et al. Med Sentinel 1999; 4:172-176.
4. Nicolson GL, Nasralla M, Franco AR, et al. J. Chronic Fatigue Syndr. 2000; 6(3/4):23-39.
5. Nicolson GL, Nasralla M, Franco AR, et al. Clin. Pract. Alt. Med. 2000; 1(2):92-102.
6. Nicolson, G.L. and Nicolson, N.L. Int. J. Occup. Med. Immunol. Tox. 1996; 5:69-78.
7. Nicolson, G.L., Nicolson, N.L. and Nasralla, M. Intern. J. Med. 1998; 1:80-92.
8. Nasralla M, Haier J, Nicolson GL. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 1999; 18:859-865.
9. Haier J, Nasralla M, Franco AR, Nicolson GL. Rheumatol 1999; 38:504-509.
10. Nicolson GL. CFIDS Chronicle 1999; 12(3):19-21.
11. Nicolson GL, Nass M, Nicolson NL. Med. Sentinel 2000; 5:97-101.
12. Nicolson GL. Armed Forces Med. Dev. 2001; 2:41-44.