469 CFS – the Cover-Up [30 April 2018]

Last week I explained how Dr. Judy Mikovits discovered a likely viral cause for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and I hinted at a cover-up. What happened and why?

Shortly after the publication of her 2009 Science paper, Dr. Mikovits turned her attention to autism. She became curious about a possible connection between CFS and autism when her preliminary data found a higher than expected number of children with autism among CFS patients and families. She speculated (publicly) that if children were asymptomatic carriers of the XMRV virus, a vaccination could trigger the sudden development of the disease. Retroviruses like to hide in the B and T lymphocytes, the very cells that vaccinations are designed to stimulate. This effect is well known for the HIV virus – babies born to HIV positive mothers must be treated with anti-viral drugs before their first vaccination.

In September 2011 Mikovits was suddenly fired from her position as Research Director at Whittemore Peterson Institute. A few weeks later she was arrested and her home searched (without a warrant), accused of stealing her research notebooks (which she was required by federal law to maintain and protect). She was held for five days in jail without bail or a formal charge ever being laid.

The Science study was retracted in September 2011 and an editorial was published discrediting her work (which included the police mugshot from her arrest). The CDC quickly initiated a follow-up study to confirm her findings. Mikovits protested that it was deliberately designed – in choice of subjects, handling of blood samples, and in the narrow control standard – to avoid finding a retrovirus in CFS patients. The best way to test for contamination would be to retest the same patients using her meticulous methodology, but this was not done. She was disappointed but not surprised when the studies found no correlation and concluded (erroneously she believes) that her previous study samples were contaminated. Another study had already confirmed her findings but it too was discredited and later retracted.

This raises the question: why would research institutions not want to find a viral cause of CFS? Possibly fear of public panic or class action lawsuits. But I suspect the reason is that it offers a plausible explanation for the connection between vaccinations and autism. What happened to Dr. Mikovits was, in her own words, “… a clear message to anyone in research who dared stand by data that revealed an inconvenient truth about corruption in public health.”

Sources

Book: Plague – One Scientist’s Intrepid Search for the Truth about Human Retroviruses and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Autism, and Other Diseases. Kent Heckenlively and Judy Mikovits, 2014

Hillary Johnson, Discover magazine March 2013 Chasing the Shadow Virus

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.