Neurotoxin Discovered in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

[Guest guest]

Neurotoxin Discovered in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

 

 

Neurotoxin Discovered in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

 

Needham, MA November 17, 2002 -- Research sponsored by the National

CFIDS

Foundation was formally announced at the International Symposium on

Toxins

and Natural Products in Okinawa, Japan on November 17-19, 2002 by Dr.

Yoshitsugi Hokama. The research, for the first time, discovered

ciguatoxin,

a potent neurotoxin, in the blood of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

patients.

 

" Chronic ciguatera poisoning has already been suggested as a

scientific

model for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), " stated Dr. Hokama.

Ciguatoxins

are potent, heat stabile, non-protein, lipophilic sodium channel

activator

toxins and are recognized as some of the most potent biological

toxins

known. They produce dramatic neurological manifestations, such as

peripheral

sensory or motor symptoms (including paresthesias, pain, burning,

tingling,

numbness), central symptoms such as headache, autonomic dysfunction

and also

affect multiple body systems (gastrointestinal, immune, hepatic,

cardiovascular)

and the muscles.

 

Many CFS patients in the study had higher levels of the toxin than

the

patients with cancer, hepatitis or acute ciguatera poisoning.

 

Quantitative assay results range from 1:5, the lowest toxin level, to

1:160, the highest toxin level. All CFS samples gave titres of at

least

1:20, with the majority of titres from 1:40 to 1:160.

 

Dr. Hokama presented his preliminary findings in a lecture

titled " Acute

phase lipids in sera of various diseases: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,

ciguatera, hepatitis, and various cancer with antigentic epitope

resembling

ciguatoxin as determined with Mab-CTX. "

 

Dr. Hokama is a Professor in the Department of Pathology at the John

A.

Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is

a

world expert in the area of fish toxins with hundreds of peer

reviewed

publications to his credit. Hokama developed the Membrane Immunobead

Assay

test for patient sera, using a specific monoclonal antibody for

ciguatera

toxin (Mab-CTX). His current research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

and a

ciguatera toxin connection was funded by the National CFIDS

Foundation's

research grant program.

 

Gail Kansky, President of the National CFIDS Foundation, said, " We

believe

this to be a significant breakthrough. CFS, which has come to include

myalgic encephalomyelitis, is a very severe illness that has not

received

adequate funding or appropriate medical attention. Although there are

still

many unanswered questions and much work to be done, research efforts

will

ultimately turn the tide in the understanding of this disease and

allow

patients to receive appropriate medical therapies. We are indebted

to Dr.

Hokama and his colleagues for providing this monumental first step. "

 

 

For more information on this study or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,

please

contact:

 

The National CFIDS Foundation

103 Aletha Road

Needham, MA 02492

phone: 781-449-3535

fax: 781-449-8606

 

Click here for the full text of the Neurology of ciguatera article by

Dr. John Pearn (in the printable .PDF file format). Click here for

the text-only version.

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

The neurotoxin mentioned may prove to be fairly important, and not

just in chronic fatigue syndrome. You may be interested in some URLs

as shown in the following passage;

Ciguatera poisons picked up by oceanic fish in the tropics have been

linked to CFS, especially in Japan. This is a poison of many carbon

rings generated by algae which can not be degraded by heat and which

is thought to bind to sodium cell wall pumps. It remains in the body

for a long time.

http://www.holistichealthtopics.com/HMG/ciguatera.html#Treatment%20of%

20Ciguatera You may see an extensive discussion of this toxin along

with a proposal of a vitamin B-12 antidote above and also here;

http://www.cfidsfoundation.org/ . Since fish migrate and in

addition are transported all over the world, eating oceanic fish or

chickens or pigs fed such fish may not be worth the risk even for

healthy people. I suspect that cod-liver oil is safe since it is a

northern fish.

Sincereely, Charles Weber