text:
Whenever you get a shiver up your spine or feel a cold draft you know that your little girl is around somewhere in her Ice Princess Dress Kids Costume. This ice cold costume features a lovely, cool blue strap dress with long sleeves that expose the shoulders and a lighter shade petticoat with a sparkling blue bodice that has a wintry pattern and is ornamented with jewels and latticework. Also, the dress includes a sheer cape attached to the back so you can stand in amazement when your little girl twirls around. There is no rule anywhere that says young girls had to be sunny and warm all the time because sometimes the cold winter and ice can be just as appealing, if not more. This Ice Princess Dress Kids Costume will freeze your heart and young girls will feel like a real life ice princess.
Our Price: $14.99
Our Price: $24.99
Our Price: $1.99
Our Price: $1.49


text:
Free obituary e-mail alerts for specific people, towns & more.
OLIVE JEAN SUTHERLAND (nee KRISTJANSSON) It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Olive Jean Sutherland on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at the Riverview Health Centre at the age of 89 years. Mother was born in Morden, MB on November 28, 1922, she started working at age 16 at Mark Ki's Grocery Store. During the war years she lived in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Vernon and Prince Albert. She married her husband William Sutherland after the war in 1946, and they lived in the Riverview area of Winnipeg since 1950. Whenever mother returned to Morden for a visit, she loved to go down to the coulee. Olive worked in the Gift Shop at Eaton's in the late 1950s, and after that worked for Statistics Canada. She joined the Naturalist Society and enjoyed outings with them. She always kept busy knitting, crocheting and making sure the birds were fed. Mother loved to go to the Fort Whyte Centre to see the birds and geese while enjoying a cup of coffee. Mother and father went to Florida for several winters with their son Jim and Ebba. Recently, she had a stay in the Charleswood Nursing Home and then Riverview Health Centre. We would like to thank both nursing homes for their care and attention. Mother was predeceased by her parents, Louise and Helgie Kristjansson, and her son James Clark. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband William John, son William John Jr., and her sister Marie (Herman) Larke, as well as by numerous relatives and friends. In keeping with Olive's wishes, cremation has taken place, and a private family graveside service will be held at a later date. The Coutu family in care of arrangements: E.J. COUTU CO. FUNERAL DIRECTORS 680 Archibald Street 204-253-5086
As published in the Winnipeg Free Press on December 01, 2012
Share your memories and/or express your condolences below. Fields marked with a * are required. All others are optional.
Tributes will be moderated for inappropriate content before displaying on the passage and may take up to 24 hours to appear.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Green Impact Awards for School and Sustainable Places StaffMay 21 2014
Bronze and Gold prizes have been awarded for staff efforts in the Cardiff University Green Impact Project.
Student Wins RT Wynne Medallion Prize for Transport PaperMay 14 2014
Lucy Baker, a doctoral student in the School, has won the RT Wynne Medallion Prize for 'Best Student Paper - Transport' at the recent CILT Cymru National Transport & Logistics Awards.
School Staff Nominated for Student-led AwardsApril 22 2014
Bethan Clemett, Dr Craig Gurney and Dr Dimitris Potoglou were all nominated in the University's Enriching Student Life Awards.
Hong Kong Field Study Visit 2014April 17 2014
Undergraduates visit Hong Kong as part of their final year field study visit.
End of Year Dinner Raises £200 for CharityApril 4 2014
Masters Graduate School end of year dinner a success and raises £200 for charity.
MSc Food, Space and Society - Apply NowMarch 14 2014
The School is now welcoming applications for its new masters course.
Urban Design Lifetime Achievement AwardMarch 12 2014
The Urban Design Group awarded Professor John Punter a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual awards ceremony.
Mapping Cities of the FutureMarch 10 2014
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude visited the School to meet with students and lecturers at the forefront of the development of tools and designs that will ensure the cities of today are fit for the future.
Research Centre Launch in ChinaFebruary 25 2014
Professor Paul Milbourne and Dr Li Yu visit China to launch the new "China-UK Research Centre for Eco-Cities and Sustainable Development".
More RICS AccreditationFebruary 20 2014
Two masters courses - MA Urban Design and MSc Spatial Planning and Development - receive Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accreditation.


text:
Incestuous relationships formulated between siblings are common, though underrepresented in the literature. This paper explores the concept of sibling sexual abuse, the complexity of the social problem, the available literature in the topic, and its devastating effects. Also included are guidelines for treatment for social workers treating families presenting with experiences of sibling sexual abuse.
During the past several decades, various forms of interpersonal family abuse (child abuse, spouse abuse, elder abuse) have been brought out into the open from behind the closed doors of the home. As these various forms of abuse have become known and understood, considerable progress has been made in detecting, treating, and preventing them (Wiehe, 1990).
Child sexual abuse in itself is a devastating act, causing immediate and long-term negative effects on a child victim and family. But what happens when the sexual abuse perpetrator is a family member, specifically a sibling? Family dynamics and relationships are deviated and boundaries are skewed and broken, thus affecting the sibling victim and the rest of the family in ways other than child sexual abuse victims whose perpetrators are non-familial.
Adults are generally assumed to be the perpetrators of child sexual abuse, most likely an adult closely known to the victim. A childs formulation of relationship building is first generated within the family, but the family is also an institution where these relationships and bonds can be easily twisted and manipulated. Unfortunately, familial trust and emotional closeness are often used to lure or trap a child into being sexually abused by a sibling. Because sibling incest thrives on secrecy, the family context is one allowing for ongoing victimization of a sibling with frequent victim access and manipulation of trust through familial bonds. Siblings encounter each other in their lives daily, and this social construct can be used to an offenders advantage. It has been estimated that 23,000 per million children have been sexually victimized by a sibling (Leder, 1993).
Sibling sexual abuse most often goes unreported and undetected by parents. There is evidence that sibling incest, specifically brother-sister sexual relationships, may be five times as common as father-daughter incest (Wiehe, 1990). Research indicates that there are two age periods when children seem most vulnerable to sexual victimization by a sibling. These are the period between ages six and seven, and the period between ages ten through twelve. But why these periods are the most common, the literature does not speculate.
I believe these periods are likely to be times when abuse most frequently occurs for various possible reasons. At the ages of six through seven, a child is learning social skills and relationship building, and formulating the concepts of trust and respect. A sibling offender may choose this time in a young siblings life to manipulate these learning experiences, utilizing the formulation of respectful and trustful sibling bonds to bribe, trick, and coerce their sibling victim. The second age period where sibling sexual abuse is most likely to occur are ages ten through twelve. This preteen age is a time of extended growth and development, where a childs body and mind is sexually maturing. Sibling offenders may choose to abuse a sibling at this time because the victim is more sexually attractive, sexually aware, sexually capable, and sexually available. These latency age children may be victimized at this age period because their older sibling (possible teenage) is having trouble socializing and adjusting to their own peer group, and may take out these feelings of anger and frustration by abusing their young, weaker sibling.
Sibling sexual abusers are thought be worse than other sexual offenders, whose victims may be inside or outside of the family. Sibling sexual offenders commit more sex crimes for more years, and often practice more intrusive sexual behavior, such as vaginal penetration (Firestone, 1999). Most sibling sexual abuse takes place when the household is asleep when older siblings are asked to baby-sit their younger siblings, leaving the older sibling with power and authority to do what they wish with their victim. Siblings are often left to watch over their younger siblings in their parents absence, very commonly when parents are at their place of work. This is why brothers and sisters spend more time together during their childhood than with their parents, especially today when nearly sixty percent of mothers with children under age 6, and seventy-five percent of mothers with children aged 6-17, work outside the home (Leder, 1993).
Sibling sexual abuse or sibling incest can include, but is not limited to, unwanted touching, fondling, indecent exposure, attempted penetration, intercourse, rape, and oral or anal sex. In most cases, sexually abusive siblings are three to ten years older than their victims (Wiehe, 1991). Victims, especially younger children, arent often aware of what is going on when an older sibling uses them for sexual gratification. Only afterward, and very often years later, does the child fell shame or guilt about the incidents when learning more about the meaning of the incident(s).
Like adult sexual abusers, sibling perpetrators often approach their victims as friends, manipulating the sibling bond that harbors feelings of trust, respect, and authority. Also, sibling abuse most often occurs in the context of threats (Wiehe, 1991). Older siblings may threaten their sibling victims with physical harm of parents or professionals are notified of the abuse. Sibling perpetrators pressure, bribe, lie to, or take advantage of their siblings to sexually victimize them in the way they choose. Few children are sexually abused by their siblings once. For most victims, sexual victimization continues from months to years. Abuse increases in intensity, and is often joined by physical and emotional abuse, not only from the perpetrator, but very often from other family members as well. The ongoing trauma of sibling incest usually ends when the sibling is physically old and strong enough to stop the abuse, or upon discovery from a familial or outside source. There are some reported cases, however, where a sibling perpetrator will continue to sexually abuse a sibling through adolescence and into adulthood when the victim has a family and children of their own.
Sexual activity between siblings is a phenomena that remains poorly understood and infrequently researched. Although the subject of child sexual abuse is receiving increasing attention in the literature, relatively little has been written about sibling incest (Ascherman & Safier, 1990). Numerous authors have suggested that sibling incest is the most common form of incest, although it is the least reported and least written about (Ascherman & Safier, 1990).
Much of the literature addressing sibling incest explains what little is known about sibling sexual abuse and then offers a case vignette to demonstrate how this interfamilial abuse effects the victim, perpetrator, and/or family and treatments utilized, not necessarily generalizing to the greater population. An example of this type of published literature is an article by Ascherman & Safier (1990), which examines a case of an adolescent boy who initiated and maintained sexual activity with his younger sister for a period of years. The article explores the contributing factors and family dynamics involved with this familys experience with sibling sexual abuse. The authors suggest that when treating families presenting with sibling incest activity, the process of obtaining a detailed family history and assessment is crucial to fully understanding family dynamics, individual psychopathology, and to aid in planning an effective treatment plan. In reviewing this specific case and others like it, the authors found that sibling incest may not always be a situation involving one victim and one aggressor. Both may willingly engage in the behavior in an attempt to cope with unmet needs. In these situations, the authors found that very often the sibling incest occurs in part because parents are distant and nonaffectionate. The authors state:
These authors present an interesting paradigm to sexual contact between child siblings. The idea that children seek out one another to gratify their emotional needs in absence of close parental bonds is not so far fetched. But alternately, the idea that child siblings attend to their sexual needs with one another seems odd, since sexual activity (outside of normal developmental sexual play) is not a childhood behavior. I can see how children may turn to each other for the physical affection that others do not provide for them, such as hugs, caresses, and kisses. But young children learn sexual behaviors and conduct from other, most often adults, and they will not perform advanced sexual behaviors (intercourse, oral sex, etc.) without being taught by an adult.
This theory may ring true for some uncommon cases of sibling sexual abuse, and would possibly be easier to treat since it would require less restructuring of power and control, and more definition of boundaries and roles. I believe most cases of sibling incest are not these types of cases where children seek one another for the sexual gratification of needs.
Other literature surrounding sibling sexual abuse attempts to explore the effects the victimization has had on the abuse survivor. Waldman, Silber, Holmstrom, & Karp (1998) studied groups of adult female incest survivors, one group actively in therapy, and one not. Of the 125 females studied in the two groups, the results suggested that the incest survivor group projected more hostility and had lower feeling of mastery and basic trust than those who were not incest survivors. In addition, it was found that the incest survivors studied showed higher rates of pessimism, and tendencies to view outcomes in extremes.
Another article found in reviewing the literature examines the affect of sibling sexual victimization on adult survivors. Armsworth & Stronck (1999) examined the intergenerational effects of incest on parenting skills, abilities, and attitudes. Results from questionnaires administered to forty women survivors of incest indicated feelings of unbalanced development (parentification), disconnectedness in their lives (geographically or emotionally), and disowned dramas (expression of story). The women survivors also reported growing up in homes that offered little safety, consistency, predictability, and nurturing. Suggestions for future research sited by the authors included a need for both quantitative and qualitative research, as well as exploration in counseling that addresses the needs of this population.
In further review of the literature, articles were reviewed which gave detailed description of specific treatment modules that were effective with families presenting with sibling sexual abuse issues. DiGiorgio-Miller (1998) provided a treatment module for possible use in practice with families experiencing sibling incest. The author begins by suggesting that the practitioner formulate the foundation of treatment in accordance with how the sibling sexual abuse was brought to light. If the parents brought the matter to the authorities, the author states that this will increase the likelihood of reliable parent follow-through with a prevention plan. DiGiorgio-Miller states: " treatment begins with a through assessment of each family members position regarding the disclosure of the abuse" (p. 339). The treatment module suggested in this article also suggests treatment including a safety plan, reevaluated supervision, and eventual reintegration of the offender into the family system.
An interesting article was found in the literature reviewing incest in a different way than most researchers have been willing to explore. Authors Hendrix & Schneider (1999) examined in their article the biosocial theories of incest in relation to innate and societal taboos. The biosocial of theory of incest utilized by the authors also presents a series of assumptions about biosocial learning in families and how the variations in the assumptions can allow for the possibility of incestuous relations. The biosocial theory itself is explained by the authors as a " biological sexual inhibition in the human species, that when broken down by sexual intimacy in the family in childhood, creates inner and outer turmoil, thus creating sexual taboo" (p. 194). Presentation of the familial assumptions are summarized below:
Assumption 2: A persons experiences during early childhood affect that persons mate choices at sexual maturity.
Assumption 3: A persons innate inhibition to sexually acting on impulse is fairly weaker than once thought to be.
Assumption 4: Evolved sexual inhibitions within the family are mostly unilateral than mutual.
Assumption 5: Incest taboos banning parent-child and sibling sex grow out of sexual inhibitions acquired in early childhood.
Finally, in review of the literature, an article was found by Firestone, Bradford, McCoy, Greenburg, Larose, & Curry (1999) exploring recidivism rates in sexual offenders, including incest offenders. 251 offenders were assessed in areas of sexual functioning, hostility, alcohol abuse, psychopathology, cognition, sexual arousal, and criminal offense history. Findings indicated a 6.4% sexual offense recidivism rate for incest offenders, very similarly to projected incest offender recidivism rates. The findings of this study also showed a 12.4% violent offense recidivism rate and a 26.7% criminal offense recidivism rate for offenders participating in the study. Results further indicated that offenders more likely to re-offend were found to have high rates of family alcoholism, violence, and criminality.
The literature presented here is not adequate to best explore the complex realm of sibling sexual abuse. This review of the literature is taken from the available sources of the student, and in my opinion is very lacking and sporadic in its attempts to provide insight and understanding of the problem. Researchers in this area very often pointed out the gap in the literature on this problem, but not one of the authors had written more than one published and available article for review on the topic, furthering the research that they claim is desperately needed. The articles presented in this review most often provide pilot studies, that merely scratch the surface of the problem, with no attempts at replication of studies to strengthen the validity and reliability of the studies therein. Other articles only present authors opinions of how to treat families who present with sibling sexual abuse, with the authors boastfully providing a case scenario which they successfully treated a family with their treatment module. This is helpful for practitioners if a family presents with similar sibling incest dynamics, but families are monumentally different, and each case will not likely fit into the triumphant mold that the authors suggest as a cure-all for these families.
Research in the field of sibling incest needs to increase, become more widely available, and understandable. This literature review proves that in the field of social work, a widely studied field, there is a glowing gap that needs to be filled since this social problem is large and awareness is increasing.
The children are negatively traumatized by sibling sexual abuse and may require help to minimize the effects of their victimization. Children sexually abused by a family member are negatively impacted in many more ways due to the incestuous type of victimization. Explored below are different theoretic aspects that identify how a child is affected by sibling incest.
Incest as Trauma
Child siblings are traumatized by the sexual abuse event(s) and they are affected in many ways. When a child is developing into adolescence and adulthood, erotic interests are shaped and by different social influences and new sexual experiences are "fitted to exist a changing map of sexuality" (Maddock & Larson, 1995). The way the child victim reframes this traumatic event to fit their personal theory will determine the amount and severity of the immediate impact on their lives. If what that child perceives from the sexual contact doesnt fit in their understanding or personal theory, and I dont think it often does, then the child will be greater traumatized by the event.
Trauma is defined here as "an emotionally intense experience that has highly charged emotional impact without an adequate internal explanation, thereby interrupting the childs ongoing adaptation of self" (Maddock & Larson, 1995). The result is severe, overwhelming anxiety out of which behavior problems can arise. Children then interpret the trauma in ways they can understand. They might believe theyve behaved badly and required punishment. Some children might think that they, for reasons unknown, have been singled out for special love or attention by the sibling. No matter how a child attempts to explain the reasons for the victimization, the better it helps them to cope with the abuse, the better they will adjust to the trauma.
Incest as Loss
Each child victim acts differently in response to the sexual abuse by a sibling, but many responses have certain characteristics in common (Maddock & Larson, 1995). Two primary issues are power/control, and loss and abandonment. Children victimized loose a sense of power and control over their safety, environment, body and other factors that contributed to the abuse experience. Also, child siblings endure great amounts of perceived losses, including: loss of innocence, loss of care and support, loss of child role in family, loss of self-esteem, loss of capacity to trust adults, loss of normal coping mechanisms, and the loss of normal sexual development sequences (Maddock & Larson, 1995).
These losses, along with the manipulation of a childs sense of power and control, contribute to the short and long-term effects of sexual abuse perpetrated on a sibling by a sibling. I think these theories do well to explain what sibling sexual abuse does to a childs emotional capacity and explains why children who endure this type of abuse need specialized treatment and specialized professionals assisting them in the areas outlined here. Child sexual abuse in itself is a complex and devastating social problem which calls for professionals to be highly trained in its causes, effects, and treatments. Sibling sexual abuse calls for significantly advanced professionals who not only understand these concepts of child sexual abuse, but also the additional components that are added when siblings bonds are added to the perpetration.
In reviewing the literature, some treatment models were outlined by authors in the field. None gave specific intervention ideas, formulated through use of research, practice, and basic trial and error, which I felt were useful or practical when working in this area. This lead to my interview with Becky Palmer, MS, Director of Programs and Administration at The Center for Contextual Change, Ltd. in Oak Park, IL. She is a professional currently working with families presenting with sibling incest, and her application of theory, treatment, and personal wisdom added great insight into formulating a treatment guidelines of my own when working with families who have experienced sibling sexual abuse.
The formulation of these treatment guidelines are a conglomeration of many different resources, including the articles outlined in the literature review, books on the topic of incest, and the in-person interview with Becky Palmer, MS. Sources will be recognized when included in my "best practices" treatment guidelines described below.
"Best Practices" Treatment Guidelines when working with Families Presenting with Sibling Incest
Phase 1: Intake Process
How the family is brought to a professional social worker for treatment has great bearing on how well the family will willingly contribute to treatment and is the greatest predictor of a successful outcome (DiGiorgio-Miller, 1998). It is important to examine how the sibling incest was discovered, and how it was brought to light by the authorities. If the parents made the decision to address the matter, then they are likely to take the matter seriously and will support the victim. This is a good sign for the course of treatment because when the parents are the whistle-blower, the victim is supported and the offender is held accountable.
If the sibling sexual abuse is brought to a clinician, and has not yet been reported to the proper authorities, it is encouraged to have the family themselves report the abuse, with the assistance and support of the social work professional (DiGiorgio-Miller, 1998). Social workers are mandated of course to report to the Department of Children and Family Services, but with guidance and help, it is beneficial to the parents of the family to report the abuse to empower the victim and to place consequences on the perpetrator. If the family refuses to report the abuse, even with the clinicians help, the sexual abuse must be reported, but an obstacle is then present in treatment. Once the social worker reports the abuse and brings forth the investigation that ensues, it enables the family to then blame the practitioner for all the unrest and turmoil that the family will likely go through.
During the intake process, it is stressed by authors Maddock & Larson (1995) that each family members "reality" be examined and accepted as meaningful and important to gain the familys respect. To me, this sounds like the basic social worker theoretical perspective of starting where the client is at. Family members coming to a social worker have already learned to cope in some way to deal with what has happened in their family. Challenging these beliefs and coping mechanisms will likely cause an unnecessary power struggle between the clinician and the clients and will be a difficult obstacle to overcome in treatment efforts.
Intake should also include an immediate formulation of a safety plan. As Becky Palmer stated in her interview, "it is important to insure safety, both inside the office, and outside once the family goes home" (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001). Safety might not be difficult to ensure in most families, since the offending sibling may have already been removed from the home. Other families thought require extensive and creative plans to ensure victim safety until the next treatment appointment to address the offending issues at large.
Phase 2: Treatment
Once intake has been accomplished and agreed upon and working safety plan has been enacted, treatment of the family can begin. Authors differ in their belief of where a social work practitioner should being when starting treatment with the family. Some claim is it best to being with addressing issues of power and control, confronting cognitive distortions and role changes in the family. Others believe that the best place to begin is to set boundaries. Of the treatment modules Ive examined, I believe the next best step is to fully assess the family and the crisis situation the family may present.
It is my experience working with juvenile sex offenders that if there are other crisis situations occurring in a persons life, they will not fully commit and thrive in treatment until they have stabilized and are ready to being a therapeutic relationship. Of course offenders may claim to never be ready for treatment, denying their offending thoughts and behaviors, but family crises can be better addressed and dealt with before progressing into treatment stages. The social work clinician, to better aid family members in their therapeutic process, should address crises in the initial stages of treatment. The family can then better adapt to treatment and focus on creating change while addressing the issue of sibling incest.
In the thorough assessment, an interview should be held with the sexually abusive sibling, checking to see if the offenders and the victims stories match. If the offender is in denial about the offense(s) individual treatment should be included in the abusive siblings treatment, to better confront the offender in work with a specialized practitioner who has worked with offenders of this type (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001). Sexual abusers of this type will likely undergo treatment in individual therapy in areas such as self-esteem, social skills, impulse control, and healthy sexual patterns of thought (DiGiorgio-Miller, 1998).
Use of the creation of a genogram may be useful in this initial stage of treatment to explore familial patterns and bonds, which will be explored in future stages of treatment. Creating a thorough genogram with the family will likely be a wealthy source of information at a later time.
Once an assessment has been gathered through interviewing all family members and creating a genogram, treatment can progress. Treatment may focus on a variety of aspects present in the family system. Each family will have a varying treatment plan, but the concepts outlined below should be addressed in some fashion in each family presenting with sibling sexual abuse.
The idea of boundaries in a family must be explored in treatment. In cases of sibling sexual abuse, boundaries are blurred and roles are enmeshed. Children become overly dependent on one another for needs and break out of predefined boundaries created in the family. Social work clinicians need to redefine roles in the family, restructuring and reinforcing boundaries, realigning the "broken" system of the family. It is very important that the parents reestablish the power and control in the family, relinquishing it from the perpetrator, by helping the practitioner redefine these roles, and stick to them. Becky Palmer also believes that in this stage of treatment it is important to make it clear to the offending sibling that s/he does not have to behave negatively to gain control or attention from the parents in the family (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001).
Lack of Supervision
Parents during this treatment phase must also be confronted by the victim and/or social work practitioner to face what part they played in the sexual abuse experience, in the way of providing less than adequate supervision. Lack of parental involvement on the whole is very often said to be one of the major reasons sibling sexual abuse occurs in families (Maddock & Larson, 1995). Lack of parental involvement leads to the offenders opportunity to act impulsively and not get caught, or turns child siblings to one another for comfort guidance and affection (DiGiorgio-Miller, 1998). In both cases, distant parents cause a victim to be less likely to disclose the abuse. Parents in this stage of treatment need to understand how their absence or inaccessibility allowed the opportunity for the abuse to take place. Once parents can accept their responsibility in this way, they hopefully will be more willing to be open to their children and accessible to prevent sexual contact in the future.
Stage 3: End of Treatment
Though Becky Palmer in her interview stated that treatment most commonly lasts for about two years, families do usually complete treatment with help of a good strengths-based, patient social work clinician (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001). The steps leading up to successful termination are great, and only with careful planning will a family be sure to succeed in stopping future sibling incest situations.
It is common theme in the literature that in this ending stage of treatment the offender be asked to come to a family session and apologize to the victim. Apologies to the parents from the offender may also be given in this session (DiGiorgio-Miller, 1998). Becky Palmer believes in the apology session, but states that it is not a good idea to proceed until the victim agrees to take part in the session without persuasion or confrontation (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001).
Becky Palmer believes that a large step in completing treatment, and eventually terminating with the social work clinician, is making sure the offender and his family know and understand the offenders cycle of abuse. The cycle, created in individual or family treatment, is the key to understanding the offenders thought and behavioral patterns in the past, and likely the future. With the familys help, an offender can recognize when he is in his cycle in the future, and hopefully stop from committing another sexual offense (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001). In my work with juvenile sex offenders the creation and awareness of the offense cycle was a great tool in use to identify triggers, grooming behaviors, and other thought and behaviors indicating the likelihood of a sex offense to take place.
Another important tool to incorporate into the ending stages of treatment for incestuous families is the formulation of an increased support system. Support systems need to be expanded for families experiencing sibling sexual abuse, for parents, and the children. Because families presenting with sibling sexual assault often feel isolated and "damaged" it is important to have the incestuous family linked to friends, professionals, community members, and others that can break those feelings of helplessness and isolation.
Becky Palmer shocked me when she stated in our interview that most families reunify after experiencing and undergoing treatment for sibling sexual abuse (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001). Rejoining a family after experiencing sibling sexual abuse is a long and difficult process, but one that can be done with skilled, patient professionals and families willing to work hard in successful treatment.
To adjust the family to the process of reunification, careful attention must be paid to the victims readiness and needs. Allowing the offender to have visits with the sibling victim and the rest of the family must be slow and careful. Beginning with short, closely monitored visits with all parties involved ensures the readiness and willingness of the family to start anew. Visits should continue for as long as necessary (months to years), and interactions and feelings should be processed after each visit.
Reunification also requires an increased and carefully formulated safety plan, one that the entire family adheres to, possibly for the rest of the siblings childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. The modified safety plan, according to Becky Palmer, may include use of door and window alarms, motion detectors, and/or constant supervision (B. Palmer, personal interview, April 12, 2001).
The final aspect that should be incorporated into treatment termination is the familys knowledge that they can return to treatment at any time if necessary. By communicating to the family about the treatment process, the social work practitioner should encourage the family to seek professional help if they find themselves in a situation they cannot handle on their own. Leaving the door open for families may decrease the chances that another sex offense will occur, with families knowing where to turn to address grooming/offending behaviors and other issues of family members.
Sibling sexual abuse is one of the most prevalent forms of abuse, but yet one of the least recognized. Offenders sexually abusing their siblings have easier access to their victims, engaging in sexual activities that are more severe, and continuing to sexually abuse for longer periods of time. There is a large gap in the literature exploring incestuous relationships between siblings and effective treatments available to address this social problem. When a sibling sexually victimizes a child, that child is impacted in a variety of ways. Children can experience sibling incest as trauma, impacting their lives in relation to how the sexual assault is reframed to fit their personal theory. Incest can also be experienced as loss, challenging the child to reclaim feelings of acceptance, support, and trust.
Included in this paper are suggested guidelines for social workers working with families presenting with sibling incest for family treatment. Social workers in this area will benefit from following the guidelines presented here, as well as encouraging further studies expanding the literature to allow for better understanding of sibling sexual abuse.
Armsworth, M.W. & Stronck, K. (1999). Intergenerational Effects of Incest on Parenting: Skills, Abilities, and Attitudes. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77 (3), pp. 303-315.
Ascherman, L.I. & Safier, E.J. (1990). Sibling Incest: A Consequence of Individual and Family Dysfunction. Bulletin of the Menniger Clinic, 54 (3), pp. 311-323.
DiGiorgio-Miller, J. (1998). Sibling Incest: Treatment of the Family and the Offender. Child Welfare, 77 (3), pp. 335-347.
Firestone, P., Bradford, J.M., McCoy, M., Greenburg, D.M., Larose, M.R., & Curry, S. (1999). Prediction of Recidivism in Incest Offenders. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14 (5), pp. 511-532.
Hendrix, L. & Schneider, M.A. (1999). Assumptions on Sex and Society in the Biosocial Theory of Incest. Cross-Cultural Research, 33 (2), pp. 193-218.
Leder, J.M. (1993). Adult Sibling Rivalry. Psychology Today, 26 (1), pp.56-63.
Maddock, J.W. & Larson, N.R. (1995). Incestuous families: An ecological approach to understanding and treatment. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Waldman, T.L., Silber, D.E., Holmstrom, R.W., & Karp, S.A. (1998). Incest Survivors Have Different Personality Characteristics Than Nonassaulted Persons. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 13 (3), pp. 437-451.
Wiehe, V.R. (1990). Sibling abuse: Hidden physical, emotional, and sexual trauma. Massachusetts: Lexington Books.
Wiehe, V.R. & Herring, T. (1991). Perilous rivalry: When siblings become abusive. Massachusetts: Lexington Books.


text:
How long does it take for my period to return to normal after a miscarriage?
I found out we were pregnant in early May, but I miscarried about 6 weeks in. I had a normal period in June, although it came a week later than my normal cycle before the pregnancy. However, this month (august) I still haven't gotten my period. Is this just my body returning to normal? Or could I be pregnant again?
Posted: 08/17/2010 by Tgrgrl913
Mom Answers
Sort by: best answers | most recent answers
1 - 2 of 2 answers
I had a miscarriage on Nov 12, and found out we were preg. again on Dec 24th. I never even had a period and I am now 37 weeks pregnant.posted 08/17/2010 by vferguson09
It can normally take about 2 months. All of the prego hormone has to leave your body and then your body will begin its cycle again. It took mine a little over 2 months after my m/c to get my cycle regular again. But yes, you may also be pregnant too...posted 08/17/2010 by melliebk
Answer this question


text:
Forgot Password? | Not a User? Sign up
Your browser does not support iframes.
Three Rivers Gun Club, 3041 Hwy 55 in Carrollton is sponsoring a Shotgun Shoot, (50 clay targets), Sunday, June 3, 2012, starting at 2 p.m. Cost is $15 for 50 targets or Three River Member cost is $10. Tied score at end of regulation 50 targets will result in a 10 shot shoot off to determine the winners. Prizes: high shooter gets return of entry fee or $1 for each shooter whichever is greater. For more information contact Derrick Willis at (502) 525-8724 or Cody Human at (502) 377-6451. Everyone welcome, please park across road from range.
The weather is getting warmer, and Kentuckians are again firing up their grills for tasty burgers and steaks. Gov. Steve Beshear recognizes this American tradition and has proclaimed May 2012 Beef Month in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
"I urge all Kentuckians to support Kentucky's beef cattle industry and to salute the cattle farmers for their contribution to Kentucky's agricultural and rural economy during the month of May," Beshear said.
With a little understanding, Expected Progeny Differences may actually be the best tool producers have to address the genetics of their herds.
While calculating EPD takes a lot of math, producers do not have to do the math; they just need to understand the answers. The calculation results usually appear in the first pages of a sire summary before the actual EPD tables. They may look a little confusing, but the information is very beneficial. It comes down to the fact that you are buying the DNA of a particular animal.
This is the perfect time to take in the beauty in the state of Kentucky and the good news is that you can get in a lot of good exercise while we are doing it.
In fact, walking and hiking can help you lose weight, decrease blood pressure and improve bone strength.
The Paragon Arts and Music Academy will host its annual Recital and Art Showcase on Saturday, May 19. The event is free and open to the public. The dance recital is 2-4 p.m. and the music recital from 6-8 p.m. The art gallery will be open all day.
The Carroll County High School Chorus will present a Spring Choral Concert on Thursday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at Cartmell Elementary School. A variety of songs will be performed that include "Fire and Rain," "An American Tribute," "Africa," and "For Good."
Following the concert, awards will be presented by director, Mary Ellis Coombs. Refreshments will also be served. The concert is free and open to the public.
A poker run in memory of Mike Gividen will be held Saturday, June 2, with a rain date of June 9. The event starts and ends at Herb Kinman Chevrolet in Carrollton. Starting time is noon. Cost is $20 per hand, and $5 for each extra hand. Prize for the winning hand is $100. There will be a split-the-pot drawing. Registration is 10:45-11:45 a.m. Cars are welcome to participate; all proceeds benefit the Carrollton Lions Club. For more information, call Jamie Kinman (502) 682-1000. Bring old eyeglasses to recycle.
Copyright © 2016
The News-Democrat is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Carroll County, KY and the surrounding area.


text:
« FDA Sees Bowel Risk In Rotavirus Vaccine Data | Main | Unofficial Transcript: Imus with Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill »
My wife has tested positive for XMRV, otherwise known as the xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus.
My daughter with autism has also tested positive for XMRV, a new human retrovirus that was recently found to be highly associated with patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME by the Whittemore-Peterson Institute.
What has been discovered and speculated about for chronic fatigue syndrome/ME and XMRV may also hold important information for autism.
By now many of you are probably aware that in August of 2010 the National Institute of Health, Harvard University, and the Food and Drug Administration published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirming an earlier study showing that XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus) is strongly associated with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME. HERE
The earlier study published in the journal Science was a joint study by the Cleveland Clinic, the National Cancer Institute, and the Whittemore-Peterson Institute of the University of Nevada with Drs. Vincent Lombardi and Judy Mikovits as lead authors. HERE The lead author of the NIH/Harvard/FDA study, Dr. Harvey Alter, noted in a press conference that he considered his study a confirmation of the earlier WPI study, even though they had detected different MLV-related viruses (MRVs), rather than only XMRV. There does seem to be a greater variety of MRVs in chronic fatigue syndrome/ME patients than first understood. The WPI's original study also showed some evidence of additional MRVs. Alter is one of the true giants in the field of virology, having been a co-discoverer of the hepatitis C virus, and winning the Lasker Award for medical research, which is often compared to the Nobel Prize in Medicine in terms of its prestige.
The CDC had also recently published an article in July of 2010 which they were unable to detect the virus in any sample. Their study was published in the journal Retrovirology. HERE
In trying to determine the quality of the work of the various groups it's probably helpful to refer to what's known as a journal's "impact factor" which reflects the reputation of the publication. The higher the impact factor the greater the reputation of the journal. Generally any score above 2 is considered good. By way of comparison, Science has an impact factor of 29.747, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have an impact factor of 9.432, and Retrovirology has a score of 4.105.
The question of whether XMRV is actually a new human retrovirus affecting people seems to have been put to rest at the 1st International Workshop on XMRV held at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland on September 7 and 8, 2010.
The evidence for XMRV infection was so strong that the workshop was opened by the Director of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, who was previously in charge of the Human Genome Project. I'm told Dr. Collins stayed for 75% of the CFS plenary session, listening and asking pertinent questions, leaving little doubt of his interest in the issue.
What remains to be more clearly elucidated is the contribution of XMRV to chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, autism, and other neuro-immune disorders.
The Question of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, XMRV, and Autism
The truly insidious thing about XMRV is that it's a retrovirus. It has two copies of an RNA genome that is reverse transcribed into DNA and inserted into the DNA of the host. Thus it persists a lifetime in an infected individual and multiples itself whenever the cell divides (and only in a dividing cell). The other two known human retroviruses include the HIV virus which causes AIDS and human T lymphotropic virus (HTLV) which causes adult T cell leukemia and a neuro-immune illness called HLTV-1 associated myleopathy, which if left untreated can leave patients wheel-chair bound. XMRV is thus the third known human retrovirus family.
XMRV may be linked to autism as it has been shown to integrate preferentially at the start site of genes and in CpG islands. This could explain a number of the methylation patterns changes seen in autism. Also, retroviruses tend to affect mitochondrial function through the production of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species, thus explaining what seems to be acquired mitochondrial defects in some children with autism. The virus buds from the cellular membrane, disrupting the membrane fatty acids and cholesterol and supports the finding of some medical practitioners of a disruption in the cellular membrane of children with autism.
The published findings from the National Institute of Health, Harvard University, and the Food and Drug Administration however showed even higher levels of infection from MRVs in chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers than the original study from Dr. Mikovits, et al, as well as its prevalence in the general population.
In the midst of her work with chronic fatigue patients Dr. Mikovits became aware that several of the children of these patients had autism. Understanding that the virus could be passed down from mother to child Dr. Mikovits tested a small number of these children and found that 40% of these children tested positive. In a statement from the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders, more testing is underway which "could dramatically increase that 40% positive finding."
A poster presentation by the WPI was made at the 1st International Workshop on XMRV and entitled "Detection of Infectious XMRV in Peripheral Blood of Children" looked at a possible cross-over between parents with XMRV infection and chronic fatigue and whether their children may have the same infection and if so, the neuro-immune disorders from which they may suffer.
The background section stated, "XMRV is a new human retroviral infection of as yet unknown pathogenic potential. Recent reports have found XMRV infection in 3% of healthy adult populations and high percentages in populations of immune compromised individuals and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The presence of XMRV infection has not been explored in families with CFS or children. An understanding of the XMRV infection rate in children may be particularly helpful given that 1 in 100 children in the US are diagnosed with neuroimmune disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and that CFS and childhood neuroimmune disorders share common clinical features including immune dysregulation, increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and chronic active microbial infections. Thus, we hypothesized that XMRV infection may be detected not only in families with CFS but also in children with other neuroimmune disorders."
According to the methods section, "66 Subjects participated as family members of a parent or child diagnosed with a neuroimmune disorder." The testing was done with 37 parents and 29 children. 17 of the children were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, a pair of three-year-old twins had Niemann Pick type C, a neurodegenerative disease, and 10 were healthy siblings.
In the results section of the poster they found, "PCR products of env and gag confirmed XMRV. The age range of the infected children was 2-18. 17 of the children (including the identical twins) were positive for XMRV (58%) and 20 of the 37 parents (54%) were positive for XMRV. 14 of the 17 autistic children were positive for XMRV (82%). Of the 17 families, only one had all members of the family test negative for XMRV. In contrast, 16 of the families with neuroimmune disease, 9 families had at least 1 parent and child test positive for XMRV. 4 of the families had a parent test negative with a positive child, and 2 families had a parent test positive with the diseased child testing negative."
What jumped out at me from the poster was that 14 out of 17 of the children with autism were positive for XMRV, an infection rate of 82%.
That's approaching the infection rate of people with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME. Expression of a retrovirus like XMRV might also cause an immune deficiency similar to what's seen in HIV/AIDS, rendering the immune system incapable of controlling infections like lyme disease, HHV-6, or CMV.
At a recent retroviral conference in San Francisco in February of this year there was a good deal of discussion from Emory University researchers about how XMRV is able to infect cells. While it's known that XMRV can infect cells called fibroblasts in the prostate, the epithelial cells also expressed a large number of antigens suggesting they're similarly infected. The epithelial cells are smooth muscle cells which line the interior of blood vessels, telling them to open up or constrict. The researchers at the conference theorized these blood vessel infections might cause many of the brain and other abnormalities observed in chronic fatigue syndrome.
Abnormalities in blood flow in the brains of children with autism have also been observed and discussed for many years.
The Way Forward
If anybody spends much time on a chronic fatigue/ME web-site (I've been lurking on the Phoenix Rising web-site for months and for a few weeks on the new XMRV Global Action site while also checking regularly at the blogs of Hillary Johnson and Mindy Kitei), you'd see a menu of therapeutic options ranging from B-12 shots, various diets, chelation, or even stem cells. You'd almost think you'd wandered onto a bio-medical site for autism. And just as in autism there are individuals who seem to have recovered from chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, but there are also many others who still linger in agony with the disease. I have heard some chronic fatigue syndrome/ME sufferers describe it as a "living death."
When my wife received the news she was positive for the XMRV virus she asked what I thought it meant. I recalled her stories of being a teenager with psoriasis (an autoimmune disorder) so bad she had to go to weekly UV treatments and often sleep wrapped in plastic wrap with a medicinal salve on her skin. She rallied from that when she moved to California and her step-father put her on a vitamin regimen, but whatever was in her body didn't leave her.
In recent years she's complained about changes in cognition and mood swings. My wife is a speech therapist who's worked for 20 years in the rehabilitation unit of a hospital. She often tells me, "I treat people with brain injuries and I know I'm not too far from them. I compensate for the problems, but they're still there." Add to that some recent instances where what should have been minor injuries took more than a year to heal, and it doesn't take much thought to come to the conclusion that something's wrong. My wife doesn't have chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, but an examination of her would probably reveal sub-clinical indications of the disorder.
I told her that we might have an answer to her problem and maybe that of many children with autism. And I'm convinced that knowing what you're fighting is half the battle. Both those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome/ME and the parents of children with autism have long hoped for objective biological markers of what has gone wrong in the body with these conditions.
Scientific American recently reported on a study from the University of Utah and Emory University in which 28 previously approved drugs for HIV were used on XMRV cultures for effectiveness. HERE
According to the study, four of the medications (raltegravir, L-000870812, Zidovudine (AZT) and tenofivir disoproxil fumarate) were best at stopping XMRV replication. In commenting on these studies Dr. Raymond Schinazi, a professor of pediatrics and chemistry at Emory University's Center for AIDS research said, "These drugs inhibited XMRV at lower concentrations when two of them were used together, suggesting that highly potent 'cocktail' therapies might inhibit the virus from replicating and spreading."
There are other medications which have been reported to have a therapeutic effect, such as Ampligen, an immune system modulator, but all of this is still in its infancy. In addition to medications which are currently on the shelf there's the prospect of medications specifically designed to go after these viruses. All in all, I think something truly wonderful is being born.
There are many caveats to be certain. Like the chronic fatigue syndrome/ME community, the autism community has long waited for answers. I know that our community wants to find the quickest path to safe and effective treatments for our children.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the warrior mothers of autism found that in helping their children they were also helping themselves?
We will wait for further answers.
(Author's note - Late yesterday we received word that my mother-in-law (my wife's mother) has also tested positive for XMRV. She was one of the first 1,000 people in the country diagnosed with celiac sprue disease, an inability to digest gluten.)
Kent Heckenlively is Legal Editor of Age of Autism
TrackBack URL for this entry:
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference My Wife, My Daughter, and XMRV:
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
See this link for full presentation:
Portions of it say:
"We analysed the data of 1210 consecutive patients complaining of chronic fatigue . . . "
- and -
"752 patients fulfilled the CDC criteria for CFS (Fuduka, 1994). Of those CFS patients, 34 (4.5%) have a common factor in their past medical history that immediately preceded the onset of their CFS. These patients had received a blood transfusion a few days to a week prior to developing a flu-like syndrome that later proved to be the acute onset of their CFS."
In the U.S. and perhaps all around the world, the powers-that-be need to assure people that 'the blood supply is safe.'
Of course there will be lots of studies demonstrating no XMRV. But no studies looking for anything else.
LOTS of money and lots of people's jobs are at stake -- there will be independent (no conspiracy, just many people with a similar stake) efforts to show that 'the blood supply is safe.'
All evidence to the contrary . . .
Thanks for covering MLVs in ME and autism- a very important topic. I am a lawyer with ME and this is my first visit to an autism site. I wanted to take a look and see what the autism community was saying about XMRV. I am impressed with your very accurate reporting on the subject- although i am duty bound to nag you that the disease is called ME; by slipping and sometimes calling it 'chronic fatigue' you are falling in the trap set for you by the charlatans at CDC. CDC, NIH, a cadre of charlatan UK psychiatrists and the UK govt have waged a quarter-century war on ME science and patients. Their latest attack is CDC's fraudulent study which failed to find MLVs in a hodgepodge of fatigued and depressed people that they lied and claimed had "CFS" (ME). As WPI is doing the best science on ME today, they are under full attack by these charlatans. I would like to ask the autism community to please support WPI as much as you can. WPI is unable to take on most of the worthy scientific and clinical projects it has planned because they are under heavy fire from these frauds. The ME community has rallied to their side, but we are in tatters and impoverished because of the aforementioned persecution.
Again, I am asking the autism community to please support WPI whatever way it can, including financially. If we don't all band together, the retroviral science that could potentially benefit many devastating neuro-immune diseases including autism and ME will be crushed, just as CDC, NIH, etc. have succeeded in halting study of other retroviruses in ME in the past including the DeFreitas retrovirus in 1991. The DeFreitas RV, very closely related to HTLV, was the subject of the Primetime Live piece referred to by NicoleW in her comment. The video is very entertaining and accurate: vimeo.com/13048135.
There are many similarities and connections between ME and autism, which would take forever to get into, but I will note Dr. Garth Nicholson's excellent studies showing that Gulf War Illness (a form of ME) is very highly associated with certain military vaccinations (even among those never deployed to the Gulf) and also with the children of pwGWI developing autism and ME. He suggests that there is a viral infection conveyed by the vaccines which cause ME in older children and adults, while causing autism in younger children.
I can go on and on, as you've noticed, but I'll stop here. Anyone is welcome to contact me- I post on phoenixrising (aboutmecfs.org) as justinreilly. good luck with regaining your or your childrens health, everybody!
Do you think this virus mentioned in this 1996 Primetime video is the same or related?
I found this 1996 Primetime video very interesting http://vimeo.com/13048135
Hi Kent:
I have tested positive for XMRV as has my son, Blake. Our cognitive decline was attributed to the Viruses HHV-6A and EBV. We have had nearly full restoral with antiviral therapy. Best wished to you, your wife and family. Julia Rachel, http://vlgonvalcyte.wordpress.com/
For reliable research, in the absence of a definitive marker for ME/CFS, the best selective Criteria needs to be adopted.
One eminent DNA specialist in UK stated that less that half the patients refered to him as suitable candidates, when his team had spent two/three days on in-hospital testing to eliminate other Fatigue conditions.
Maybe some of the XMRV testing has used difvferent criteria?
We at Resume CFS, a small recently formed charity in England, beleive that the Canadian criteraia are the tightest. We are also working to comlie a Disease Register of PWME who meet the Camnadian criteria , many of whom have severe ME.
It would be helpful if all the labs doing work on XMRV (and similar MRVs) would quote what selection criteria they had used.
Kent, I am sorry, I think you misunderstood me, I was asking about if you had your blood tested.
to Sben@ how does one test for this?
At the moment the only commercial labs offering the test are VIPdx (in US) and Redlabs (in Europe. See my post below for links.
How does one get tested for the virus?
Kent I do appreciate you discussing it though. No time for privacy when you are saving the world.
It is my husband that has the acquired mitochondria disorder.
It was my husband whose mother had hypothyroidsim at a young age of 45 - I might add along with all her three sisters (thyroid trouble). Three have all died rather early in life, with Alziheimers and stiff hearts. All three lived in California and I often wonder what vaccine was available for California's in the 30's?
It was also my husband's father from Peekskill, New York that complained constantly with his stomach and his back (degenerative disc disease - also another so called autoimmune disorder)
I am the energetic one - never been to the doctor. I saw my doctor one year when I hurt my eye on the tip of a Yucca plant I was weeding around. I had not been there for 15 years. They wanted to know where else I had been going for medical treatment all that time.
Then at age 45 I started having severe headaces. (I thought it was stress finally getting to me with two sick kids and a husband that worked hard on his career job but stopped doing anything at home, or our farm) and then I found out I tooooo have--- have a thyroid condition. The first in my family - ever????
But then my mother and her four siblings have stomach problems, and nervousness pretty bad too. They all walked through the mud and cold to see a local nurse in the thirties to get whooping cough vaccines. My mother said she already had the whooping cough at the very time she was receiving the vaccine. My mother when she was 30 something years old, after I was born had a flu shot. Which she complained about every since I can remember. She said she was never better afterwards. She would break out in a fever all that year, even in the summer time. She had a nervous breakdown a little after that too, along with stomach problems that ended her up in the hospital, and yet nothing could be found and nothing was done to help.
So it is going to be very interesting to see how this XMRV virus plays out. It may turn out that it is a numbers game. Just how much of a viral load each parent has.
Calling CFS/ME "chronic fatigue" is incorrect and insulting. One is a common symptom, the other an infectious neurological illness which can be progressive and even fatal.
You ask if I've considered the possibility that my sperm may be infected with XMRV. In response I can only lament, have I no shred of privacy left in my life? Haven't I given enough to the cause?
Actually, I am scheduled to be tested (by blood, not that other sticky substance) as there may also be XMRV infection on my side of the family. My maternal grandfather died from an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and my father has had unexplained stomach pain for more than forty years as well as some social anxiety issues. I'm just such a chipper, energetic guy I've generally thought that I don't have the virus, or if I do, it's not active.
I hope I've answered your question, and that it's the last time I discuss such matters in a public forum.
All the best,
Kent Heckenlively
Hey Kent, with your wife and daughter testing positive for XMRV, have you been tested? It looks like from a recent abstract from the XMRV workshop that XMRV can become endogenous in sperm... Thank you for reporting on XMRV accurately and in a timely manner.
Tiring to think that it makes such sense, has likely be researched and the truth is hidden for the benefit of greed.
I forgot what patron called them 'ervs?
My understanding is that all mammals have retroviruses that are species separate , non communicable. What happens when, you don't think they will create a problem across species, as likely happened with HIV and polio/hep vaccines, you blindly dismiss them as harmless, then the oops comes and decades later someone decides to test for them and gives us the "all clear". Too convenient.
Mercury enters the body, likely suppressing a number of immune system functions, a "harmless virus enters", added to the harmless virus is an adjuvant by design that will take viruses to the max in the human body, and what a sci fi nightmare is created. Three ingredients that stand alone could have problems but together they became a synergistic disaster!
Sue - The quote I posted was from a 2006 lecture by Dr De Meirleir - see here
There is this published on mercury, but I don't think it's the exact reference.
Dr De Meirleir has noticed that many of his CFS patients have autistic children.
The possibility that what causes ME/CFS in adults, may also cause autism in fetus/children makes me so angry when I think that if CFS had been taken seriously in the 1980s, we may not have had 20 years of children becoming autistic unnecessarily.
Kent: Thank you so much for your donation of $250. Because we have a generous donor who is matching donations, your $250 has been turned into $500! And you have brought us that much closer to getting our major AD in the Washington Post.
Once we get that 1/2 page hard-hitting AD in the Post there are going to be many questions by the journalists, researchers, senior policy makers, and the public about all that has gone on with these diseases, and the research that was started in the mid 1980's and damaged and then no further funding until WPI/CC/NCI stepped in just a few years ago. The Team expects that this AD will grab attention and get the funding for more research on this newly discovered family of Retroviruses, including XMRV.
Also, when the public finds out that this family of retroviruses has been in the natio's blood supply for more than 30 years, the screaming will be deafening. Why did the CDC/NIH kill off research on a Retrovirus while the numbers of sick with ME/CFS and Autism JUMPED during that time? WHY?
Anyway, thank you so much for your donation. We are getting there and when this Post AD comes out there is going to be an explosion that hits the Federal agencies with any involvement in health care/research.
www.causes.com/causes/511536 - To read, join, donate, and provide input/ideas for the 4 ADS that will presented to our members for examination and comments.
Thank you!
I have donated $250 towards placing an ad in the Washington Post requesting more federal funding into the research, clinical trials, and treatment of neuro-endocrine-immune diseases. I encourage all like-minded people to do the same at the address you gave me.
To my wonderful readers, I always love tackling such a difficult topic because when your comments come back I always learn more. I didn't know that about the RNase L fragments making cells much more vulnerable to mercury damage. I've always believed that at some point all of our various observations will combine to form a unified mosaic.
All the best,
Kent Heckenlively
B--you posted some interesting info regarding how this "retrovirus" might increase mercury toxicity. Can you provide a reference with more info? I am interested to read more.
I would also like to point out that mercury exposure clearly alters immune function and could very well increase an exposed person's vulnerability to viruses, or increase expression of innate "retroviruses." In which case there is a chicken and egg question of which came first.
(See http://www.ehjournal.net/content/7/1/52 and http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/178/MeetingAbstracts/S150-a for a bit of info regarding mercury effects on immune function--there is lots more info out there.)
One might ask, is the best response to "kill the virus" or to remove the toxin that messes up the immune system's ability to handle or suppress it?
Here is the CDC study:
heard XMRV originated in mouse, but I am going to guess it's contamination of the eggs/MMR production with ALV (Avian Leukosis Virus) which according to one PubMed study, affected ALL samples of vaccine tested...although the CDC claims there is "no evidence of transmission."
Kent, an articulate and amazing article. Hard to say there is no factor between XMRV, CFS and Autism when so many in one family have manifestations of illness.
I would hope you will join us at ME/CFS Worldwide Patient Alliance:
We are placing an Ad in the Washington Post demanding answers, funding, clinical trial, and a better quality of life for all these NeuroEndocrineImmune Diseases (NEIDs).
We need your voice and all those with children with Autism! Together we will be formidable.
Many blessings on you and yours...meaning all the Autism family we so identify with (we with ME/CFS, FM, Lyme, Atypical MS).
Sue - you asked whether there was a connection between this retrovirus and mercury. Read this.
This retrovirus, XMRV, was first found in prostate cancer patients. These cancer patients had a defect in the RNase-L antiviral pathway.
CFS patients were known to also have a defect in the RNase-L pathway. So they decided to check CFS patients for XMRV. And they found it.
Here is a quote from Dr De Meirleir about fragmented RNase-L in CFS patients.
"One of the RNase L fragments has a structure that is almost identical to a protein involved in the removal of heavy metals and toxic chemical from cells. When this protein is blocked by the RNase L fragments, the cells become more sensitive to mercury. Now a tiny amount of mercury that would normally kill 10% of the cells can kill 50 to 100% of the cells."
Repeat, "Now a tiny amount of mercury that would normally kill 10% of the cells can kill 50 to 100% of the cells."
Fantastic article! To the comments re vaccines... I'll copy an excerpt from my blog :
According to Dr. Judy Mikovitz, Whittemore Peterson Institute Director of Research, XMRV can lie dormant in people for years. It is only ignited through other factors such as stress hormones like cortisol, or in response to the presence of inflammation, or the introduction of infection or viruses that kick your immune system into overdrive. But what's key in this discussion, is that XMRV is passed from parent to child.
"If I might speculate a little bit," she said, "This might even explain why vaccines would lead to autism in some children, because these viruses live and divide and grow in lymphocytes -- the immune response cells, the B and the T cells. So when you give a vaccine, you send your B and T cells in your immune system into overdrive. That's its job. Well, if you are harboring one virus, and you replicate it a whole bunch, you've now broken the balance between the immune response and the virus. So you have had the underlying virus, and then amplified it with that vaccine, and then set off the disease, such that your immune system could no longer control other infections, and created an immune deficiency."
We have so much more to learn. Hopefully we'll hear more at the CFSAC meeting in DC Oct 12-14, as follow up to the recent XMRV workshop... Here's hoping!
"The question of whether XMRV is actually a new human retrovirus affecting people seems to have been put to rest at the 1st International Workshop on XMRV held at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland on September 7 and 8, 2010"
I am sorry, but what was the answer to that question? Is it new?
I have read your article but I didn't understand?
For Sue, and Jen love you both and you have plenty to say that I want to hear!
One of the earliest doctors to take chronic fatigue syndrome/ME seriously, Dr. Cheney, is reporting that he is finding that lyme cannot exist with XMRV being present. This remains to be proven. My guess is that XMRV will not be difficult to treat, as there are many promising medications. This also remains to be proven.
Texas Dad - Thanks for keeping the faith, Brother!
All the best,
Kent Heckenlively
Yes, at least one research lab looked for XMRV and other viral contaminants in vaccines using viral genetic microarrays. They didn't find XMRV. (Go look for Joe DeRisi's talk on TED.com to learn about microarrays and the virochip.)
However, I don't think they had the opportunity to look in samples of old vaccines. As far as I know, we don't keep 'archival' samples of past vaccines, which is unfortunate.
Thank you, Kent! Great article! It's nice to be able to come in from the cold.
is xmrv tough to treat like lyme disease is?
Thanks Paul
My guess is that they will NEVER test vaccines for this virus. Why would they? They can't get the metals out they were supposed to, and they can't stop contamination from animal bits!
Why should they? This is a goldmine! Shoot it into everyone - each year with the flu shot - and then get everyone on viral meds to deal with chronic illness.
Test vaccines for this (or even safety)???
What an optimist.
It's the money, honey.
I hope that this discovery results in finding helpful treatments for your family! Good for you for continually seeking answers. We will be so interested in what comes of this. All the very best to you and yours.
Thanks for this really well-done article. I have ME/CFS, and two children with ASD. I suspected a connection between the two conditions before I ever knew a retrovirus might be the common factor. This is tremendously encouraging news for both groups of patients!
polliwog asked: ". . . [A]re they testing vaccines for [XMRV]?"
Good question. Another good question might be this: What XMRV-contaminated vaccines could possibly be responsible for the increase in ASD prevalence since the late 1980s?
Thank you for this article, however deeply disconcerting and thought provoking. Quick question for you or anyone else who'd like to chime in... If you tested positive twice for HTLV-1 and now you have two children diagnosed with Autism, hypotonia, SPD, global dev delay, food intolerance and allergy, immuno compromised, would you have them tested for HTLV or XMRV based on this current research published?? Would you yourself get re-tested for HTLV and/or XMRV again?
To Jen (who isn't going to read any replies) and whomever else may share her sentiments regarding my earlier comments on this article:
I am sorry if my post offended you somehow. My intent was only to express skepticism and caution. I will be the first to admit that I could be wrong. I happen to have a friend who suffered from CFS for years and I do understand how life-destroying this condition can be. I do not think that I, in any way, made light of CFS, or autism, though apparently that is how Jen somehow took my words.
I remain very skeptical that a retroviral infection explains CFS or autism, though I don't entirely rule out some connection. I am far more convinced at this point that there is a mercury connection to both CFS and autism--from all that I have read, observed, and experienced firsthand. There are CFS sufferers who say that diet and mercury detox did restore their health--I accept their stories at face value.
Perhaps there is some connection between mercury and this "retrovirus" -- that seems possible to me. So I sincerely hope that those involved in doing and supporting XMRV research, if they are truly independent, will not ignore or disregard that possibility, and instead will investigate it carefully.
Furthermore, while better diet might not cure any, certainly not every, case of AIDS or CFS or autism, I suspect that more careful attention to diet wouldn't make a sufferer any worse, and could likely help. I don't think anyone could say the same about many pharmaceutical treatments for these or many other diseases.
Detox may be more similar to pharmaceutical treatments--some methods of approaching it may indeed be more harmful than helpful. I think much more research needs to be done to figure out the best ways of measuring toxicity in a living person, and developing effective methods for detoxing various poisons--not just mercury, but also aluminum, lead, manganese, tungsten, uranium, as well as the thousands of manmade toxins like BPA, dioxin, pesticides etc.
Right now, there seem to be as many ideas of how to do this as there are poisons--so it can be quite difficult to ascertain what is the best way to approach detox, or even to determine when it is appropriate. More genuine research on how to measure and clear out toxins could be very valuable to us all.
If there is synergy between microbes and toxins (and much evidence suggests there often is), then approaching the problem from the angle of getting rid of the synergistic toxin(s) seems just as likely, if not more likely, to be effective as attacking the microbe(s) -- which always have the potential to evolve.
Of course, reducing human exposures to toxins by cleaning up our environment or changing the ways we do things (like the way we preserve vaccines or generate energy or dispose of waste) never seem to be actions that garner the support of big business or folks who benefit from, or just like, the way things are. I don't think it is impossible to generate big profits from alternate, less toxic, safer and more sustainable methods of doing things--but it does require people be willing to consider new ideas and possibly doing lots of things differently.
My sincere hope is that answers are found, wherever they exist. I do think I am entitled to express my opinion, and my skepticism about this XMRV hypothesis, without someone lashing out. Such behavior is reminiscent of Orac and company's responses to those who question vaccine safety and efficacy. I do wonder what makes anyone feel so invested in this new retrovirus disease model that they feel defensive and a need to attack anyone who questions it.
Sincerely hoping that answers for all are found somewhere, soon.
Kent: Great research and report! There is no doubt that immune dysfunction is at the heart of autism and other chronic diagnoses. I take all the same things and do the diets my children do in order to stay on my feet. My children are recovered only as long as they stay on treatments, and me as well. So, yes, whatever caused their autism, caused me to be sick. We also have chronic tick-borne infections, strep, yeast, mercury, and all that jazz the autism arena talks about. I am thinking there is no smoking gun, but rather a lot of smoking guns. In the end, we need better trained docs, and better governing agencies at looking at all these chronic infections, toxins, electrosmog, etc. If I have one request, it's please hurry up and get the docs trained because I am so sick of hearing people comment that autism is not treatable, etc. But, also, I have a report that says I have HTLV-1. So, why isn't it also getting attention? I am thinking HTLV-1 is just as guilty as XMRV and other pathogens.
I think NIDS considers this
"http://nids.net/" Dr Goldberg
my DAN just ran some 'slightly outside the box" labs to try to figure out why he is SO lethargic. His results came back suggestive of a Long Chain Fatty Acid defect. We've now got to re-run these tests off EFA's and Carnitine and test thoroughly for Mito. Could XMRV be causing my son's fatty acid oxidation issue?
Sue - "IMO, IMPACT FACTORS are NOT A VERY GOOD MEASURE OF THE QUALITY OF SCIENCE"
I completely agree! You could liken impact factors to equating the number of ghost-written academic medical publications and sinecure to quality of science. Most of the prestige of the mainstream medical journals is undeserved and ill-gotten.
KDM - "how do we know XMRV is not a co-morbid issue of immune compromise individuals?"
Good point! The association of XMRV with autism and CFS may just represent comorbidity from an environmental toxin or toxins. It's premature to assume a causal relationship. Furthermore, even a SUFFICIENT cause of autism and/or CFS, is NOT necessarily a NECESSARY cause of autism and/or CFS.
A lifelong course of antiretroviral therapy is NOT a picnic. I have compassion for HIV positive and XMRV positive patients. I just think we might better look carefully, before we leap.
barbaraj - VERY INTERESTING link on GWS in Veterans Today! Thank you.
"immune system activation of coagulation"
Could this, at least in part, be related to the effect of the vaccinations, e.g. Anthrax vaccine, on the zeta potential of flowing blood. Lowering the zeta potential induces a hypercoagulable, prothrombotic state.
Could this be related to aluminum, either in the vaccines, or from dietary or other environmental sources, e.g. deodorants and antacids? Polycations, e.g. aluminum (3+), result in a dramatic lowering of the zeta potential.
Gardasil has aluminum adjuvants. There have been blood clotting events reported in Gardasil victims.
I agree with AF.. are they testing vaccines for the virus. It was after my MMR that I started having health trouble. I had it in my 30s and it took me out for a long while, although the doctors denied that. I had absent seizures, visual stims, dizzy spells... etc. They started testing me for MS after that... neg for MS... In the end I was diagnosed with PMS and was told to stay off caffiene, withhold sugar, and take vitamin B... I got better but I have never recovered. I'm now 47.
how do we know XMRV is not a co-morbid issue of immune compromise individuals?
So it seems some may "inherit" the disease, and others will get it from contaminated vaccines. This shouldn't come as a surprise given the larger ,more identifiable pathogens, that get through these vaccine cell lines.
This is possibly then the "underlying" mitochodrial dysfunction in some, and the induced mitochondrial dysfunction in others.
This then is the trigger for further damage by chemical neurotoxins?
I was reading this today, somehow it may fit in.
I watched my family again and again react to vaccines. I was slow to figure it out - to the point that it has damaged my self esteem. Anytime I do anything that might be clever, or smart I cannot feel good about it because of the little voice in the back of my head that says "Stop it and be humbled by your stupidy about vaccines.
And then the disbelief I had to face with all the medical doctors over 30 years worth. Not only disbelief but the total lack of curiosity.
Will anyone pay for the slowness of this????
Will anyone lose thier job at the CDC for just ignoring a virus spreading in the population? Please tell me that somebody is going to pay?
My daughter seem to get better, waxing and waning so to speak--I thought she was better, just before I was floored with her operating on her own self in a psychosis state. AND drugs the wrong drugs did play a part in it - as well as more vaccines that brought her crashing down.
-but the research did not come from the usless, and most hated CDC. As a matter of fact they could not even repeat the research on it that was presented to them!
The heavy lifting of this research came not from the federal government but from people like us. Yes, like ussssss --- people being made fun of, ignored by the medical establishment. These people went intom themselves like the autism commmunity!
So it is not big pharma (insert your bad word for them) they have given us contaminated vaccines and then walked away-- yes walked away with out a creative idea in all their multi millionaire, big shot, over inflated egotistical scientific brains.
So when you say you are not buying it,just think it is not coming from big pharma it is coming from the other end.
Now a cure -- well there we are we have to give money to the very people that gave us this problem to begin with.
But hey - I was doing it anyway with the anti- seizure medications I am giving my son, and now my daughter.
We are not going to receive any justice in any of this. At lass that is that way it is.
But maybe, just maybe are loved ones will at least feel better.
And is this correct, back to 1978?
Kozak, C. et al.
Genetic mapping of xenotropic leukemia virus-inducing loci in two mouse strains.
In genetic studies of C57BL/10 and BALB/c mice, inducibility of xenotropic murine leukemia virus from tissue cultures by treatment with 5-iododeoxyuridine shows single gene segregation ratios. In both strains, the virus-inducing loci are on chromosome 1, linked to the Dip-1/isozyme locus, but the two may not be at allelic sites.[1]
Genetic mapping of xenotropic leukemia virus-inducing loci in two mouse strains. Kozak, C., Rowe, W.P. Science (1978)
When you say a new retrovirus, how new is new as here it is (plural) in 2002:
"PHO1 shows highest homology with the Rcm1 mammalian receptor for xenotropic murine leukemia retroviruses"
re:How certain are we that XMRV is not an HERV
answer: Certain. It has been checked.
I assume XMR V transfers like HI V.
Was it 2 kids that did not get the virus from their parents? Does that mean they were infected by injection?
Here it is:
"4 of the families had a parent test negative with a positive child,..."
Here's a naive question from a non-virologist:
How certain are we that XMRV is not an HERV related to hypomethylated DNA?
Uhhh....Mary....this "dodgy crap" as you describe it, just might lead to a cause, treatment and prevention for autism and other neuroimmune disease. Also, "an apple a day" is not going to cut it if you have a retrovirus.
Excellent Post Kent! I'm pretty sure that XMRV is probably one of the culprits for generational predisposition for my son's regression. I haven't been tested nor has my son but I've been watching this unfold closely. Keep us updated this!! Thank you!
How does one test for this virus.... They ran titers on me last year.. Would they have tested for it then? Or is it a specific test.
I have been thinking on this a great deal too!
There are certain areas that have a larger population of autism than others might indicate that years ago like in the depression their mother might have walked several miles to get a whooping cough vaccine that was contaminated?
Or a flu shot of years ago was contaminated?
Or Maybe the whole family gets shots over the generations with some contaminated vaccines and it builds up.
Think Gulf War syndrome: Healthy men going to war, passing strenous exercise test and yet a large number becomes sicken after the vaccines.
Dodgy and unreal that you are spreading this crap.
Sue and Patrons99, with all due respect, there is not one discovered human retrovirus that has been found to not be extremely dangerous to it's host. That being said, would you tell an HIV patient to detox and change their diet alone? That is utterly ridiculous, ignorant, and injurious at best! If you do not deal with XMRV, who knows the long term implications? I have many friends with ME who did all of that stuff, diet, detox, chelation. They are still so sick, they cannot even live a normal life. When they attempt to even do something out of the ordinary for the day (like shopping using a wheelchair), they have a "crash" for a week after. Maybe longer. Some people eventually can develop cancer from this retrovirus. They are some of the sickest people I have ever known, and they stay very very sick for a long time.
Patron and Sue, your sentiments add to the prejudice and trivialization of this disease, which has left our children without real medical help for almost 20 years, and CFS/ME patients told all they need is "Cognitive-Behavioral" therapy. You should be ashamed of yourselves and think about the fact that you don't know everything there is to be known. Please do not bother replying because I will NOT be checking back to read your bs responses.
Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease
The Whittemore Peterson Institute for neuroimmune disease exists to bring discovery, knowledge, and effective treatments to patients with illnesses that are ...
These are the people that discovered the link between XMRV (Retroviruses) and ME/CFS. They also believe that the Retroviruses play into Austism.
Also, for XMRV/Retrovirus testing see: VIP Dx
The Internet home for VIP Dx is committed to advancing research into the origin and cause of auto immune diseases like Chronic Fatigue ...-->>THIS company uses the technology developed by the WPI for XMRV/Retrovirus testing as well as other testing.> WE are working to get enough donations ($8,500 for 1/2 page AD in the Washington Post calling for far more research money for investigations and real clinical trials on the medications already out there for ME/CFS/FM and other diseases. WE all need medications and treatment NOW - not 30 years from now.
Help US. Be part of your cure. We can not allow the next generations to live with these diseases - there is no reason for this when we know that the Retroviruses are OUT THERE, in the blood supplies, and medications for anti-virals and immune enhancers are already out there - and that's why we need to PUSH Washington to get us clinical trials NOW.
Testing for XMRV is offered by this lab: http://www.vipdx.com/ (doctors request required)
if in Europe it is through Redlabs http://redlabs.com/red-labs/our-tests/xmrv-testing.php
Hit the link for the Facebook Causes page for: ME/CFS Worldwide Patient Alliance (MCWPA.
To create a patient-driven effective advertisement campaign on ME / CFS, and XMRV.
The researchers DO believe that the newly discovered family of Retroviruses may well cause or be part of a cause for Autism, MS, cancers, and possibly other diseases, in addition to ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - misleading name for no body energy/damaged brain).
WE all need to fight to get more funding for this critical Retrovirus research to see if indeed it plays into our diseases and many other diseases and cancers. The ME/CFS sick have terribly higher numbers of those with leukemias/lymphomas than the "normal" population. We also have higher rates of heart disease and die on average about 25 years earlier than the rest of the population.
Please hit the link, read, join and donate if possible. Also, we need ideas and input for our 1/2 page AD in the Washington Post. This AD will be hard-hitting and demand more funding for research.
Are you all aware that a Retrovirus was found by Drs. DeFreitas, Cheney and Bell bacck in the mid-1980's but the CDC damaged the replication research and then the NIH killed off all funding for anymore research on this line of Retroviruses? That was almost 30 years ago. Had the NIH/CDC and other Federal health orgs continued to do Retrovirus research we all may not be sick with ME/CFS, MS, Autism, and possibly other terrible diseases and cancers.
So NOW is the time to fight for more research. NOW.
Hit the link above and help find a cure for yourself, your family members and millions of other people with other diseases/cancers. Thanks!
The "ME/CFS Worldwide Patient Alliance" Team.
So then, potential treatment aside for just a moment, a few further questions:
1. Can the technology used to find the porcine virus in the diarrhea vaccines be used to analyze vaccines for the presence of XMRV.
2. Can the technology be used to detect HIV family retroviruses in the polio vaccine? (Wasn't there an article Jake Crosby did a while back questioning a radio interview of the polio reseacher who said he thought their lab/research may have been responsible for HIV transfer to humans, from the monkeys used? I may be remembering wrong . . .)
3. Can mercury change the way the body deals with retroviruses, making certain people succumb to the effects of the retrovirus while leaving others less affected. (I say less affected because I think, like Kent says about his wife, there could be subclinical changes we are not yet aware of that could really be part of the picture.)
4. In the XMRV famly research, were the parents who tested positive for XMRV and has XMRV positive children or ASD diagnosed children more likely to be the mothers or the fathers? (I ask this only from a "knowlege is power" standpoint, not a blame the mother thing.)
5. Is there vaccination history of the XMRV positive parents.
Thank You Kent!
How does one test for XMRV?
We are starting to report preliminary results from the ongoing XMRV Positive Survey that 59 members of the Phoenix Rising forums created earlier this year to answer the question: What do people with XMRV (and related human gamma retroviruses) have in common?
The survey is open to anyone who has tested positive for XMRV or related MLVs, is completely anonymous, and can be filled out on behalf of children under 18 or those who are unable to complete it on their own.
I agree with patrons99. The route to health is better diet and detox, not more pharmaceuticals.
My daughter had severe psoriasis--I was at wits end to help her--the doctors had little except steroid creams that seemed to do little. After finding a paper by a dermatologist (Paul Dantzig) who linked psoriasis to mercury toxicity (google to find it), I decided to resume Andy Cutler chelation with dmsa only. My daughter experienced a very immediate and clear improvement in the psoriasis and it eventually went away entirely. A year later, it cropped up again, though less severe, and again it seemed to respond to dmsa chelation and disappeared again.
I know. Anecdotal. I have since found several articles that link mercury and psoriasis. There are plenty of reports that link mercury and chronic fatigue too and I suspect there may be journal articles as well, though I never have fully investigated that.
IMO, IMPACT FACTORS are NOT A VERY GOOD MEASURE OF THE QUALITY OF SCIENCE--much as the pharmaceutical companies and those in power, or at the top of mainstream science, would have you believe. Read more about impact factors and how they are generated and the faults of this method of "rating" science papers. I think the whole impact factor business is anti-science as it allows many scientists to simply ignore dissenting science. Peer reviewers (who are generally the current mainstream thinkers) often determine what studies get published in the "high impact" journals. Its like the church getting to decide if Galileo's or Darwin's findings should be published. Seriously, google "impact factor" and dangers and that should lead you to some discussions of the failings of the impact factor system.
The NIH and the pharma companies would like nothing more than to discover a new "bug" that they can research endlessly and provide new drugs to treat. So I am not buying this--and that is only partly because I have found a new paradigm for health that seems to work and makes a whole lot more sense to me.
I've been following the XMRV news from before the Science paper was published. Have ME/CFS and am XMRV positive.
That's an excellent summary and I thank you for that.
One tiny quibble on your use of the word "linger" with reference to CFS.
It's a painful, horrible "living death" and in some cases the actual cause of death for patients. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
In the UK we have lost people recently due to strange sudden deaths and suicides. That doesn't count the people dying young through cancer and heart disease.
We aren't lingering, I would have killed myself a long time ago if I did not have a loving partner as my quality of life is so poor.
No drugs can even start to control the physical symptoms I experience every day. Quack "cures" abound and drain what resources we have.
The symptoms of the disease are so severe that I cannot leave my bed for most of the time and cannot look after my own personal needs (i.e. bathing, cleaning, feeding).
That's been for decades now.
My warmest wishes for a treatment for both of these terrible diseases soon. I hope to still be alive for it.
I'm with Maurine. I am wondering how to get tested for XMRV. Is this something that a GP or Pediatrician can order test for?
I have had CFS for 23 years and both my children have autism. I've always know that this is no coincidence.
Best article about XMRV/autism/CFS so far. THX!
My question is: Do vaccine shots contain the XMRV virus? If not, where does it come from? Thanks for your informative article.
Kent, with all due respect, I disagree.
"In addition to medications which are currently on the shelf there's the prospect of medications specifically designed to go after these viruses. All in all, I think something truly wonderful is being born."
This research seems to be playing into pharma's allopathic (xenobiotic) agenda, perfectly. They need markets for their new biologicals as well as for those currently on the shelf.
The epidemic of autism is man-made. Just as for infection with HIV, the cure does not lie in further attempts to outsmart the "germ". The cure rests in eliminating the conditions which predispose to the "infection" in the first place.
I would be VERY interested to know if the transcribed DNA from XMRV emits a specific EM frequency, perhaps similar to that which the transcribed DNA of HIV has been found to emit.
What is the sensitivity and specificity of the test for XMRV positivity? HIV tests have a subtantial number of biologic false positives. Along the same lines, the tests for H1N1 positivity have not exactly been stellar.
Thanks Kent. Wondering if regular hosptials are now testing for XMRV or is it still just that specialty lab in, I think, Nevada?
Check out Garry Gordon MD's site. www.GordonResearch.com
Also www.Yurkovsky.com
I met a handful of Dr. Yurkovsky's patients that he cured of chronic fatigue. His method was used to get the viruses out of the body. From my research and working with Dr. Y (for myself and children - all of us immuno-compromised) it's a multi-tiered approach which includes detoxing for heavy metals, getting at viruses (if there), diet etc... There are doctors out there addressing the virus issue and helping people to get their immune systems back on track. It's not an easy task and does NOT work for all. Great informative article.
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.