Vaccinations Archives

CFIDS

The Human Stealth Virus and Its Animal Origin

THE VACCINE REACTION

When it happens to you or your child, the risks are 100% Vol.1, No.4, Sept./Oct. 1995,
Barbara Loe Fisher, Edito Published bimonthly by the National Vaccine Information

To The Reader: Since the beginning of September, I have been engaged in a remarkable
dialogue with a scientist at the University of Southern California whose work I became aware
of after reading an article published in the "Riverside Press" on August 28. Although the
content of the September October issue of "The Vaccine Reaction" had already been
scheduled, I came to the conclusion that this story was of such importance and potentially
impacts upon so many individuals suffering from unexplained neurological, psychiatric and
autoimmune disorder symptoms, that the entire issue should be devoted to covering it. I do
not believe the significance of this research should be underestimated or minimized and, in
the interest of public health and safety, expect that the Food and Drug Administration and
Centers for Disease Control officials responsible for insuring the public health and safety will
take their responsibilities seriously and act quickly to support continuation of this research to
confirm or difindings. Failure to act now could jeopardize the health and well being of every
baby born and every child and adult who may already be infected with an atypical cytopathic
virus they contracted through exposure to contaminated vaccines or exposure to infected
blood or body fluids. - The Editor

DISCOVERY OF AN ATYPICAL VIRUS INFECTING HUMANS LINKED TO VIRAL
VACCINES PRODUCED ON MONKEY TISSUES In what could be one of the most
important scientific discoveries of this decade, an award winning pathologist and
immunologist at the University of Southern California, W. John Martin, M.D., Ph.D., has
discovered an atypical virus infecting both children and adults who are exhibiting
neurological, psychiatric and autoimmune disorder symptoms with diagnoses including
chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder,
seizures, developmental delays, autism, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,
unexplained encephalopathy and chronic vegetative states. Martin and his colleagues at
USC's Infectious Diseases and Molecular Pathology Laboratories have been meticulously
culturing out stealth viruses from patients for the past eight years and, in a stunning
development earlier this year, successfully identified one of the viruses as being of African
green monkey origin by using DNA sequence analysis. Kidney tissues from African green
monkeys have been used to make the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) as well as other viral
vaccines during the past three decades.

YOU CAN BE INFECTED AND NOT BE SICK A distinctive feature of the virus Martin
and his colleagues has characterized is that it belongs to a novel class of atypical cytopathic
viruses (capable of causing pathologic changes in cells), which they refer to as "stealth
viruses" because they have the ability to evade detection by the body's cellular defense
mechanisms and appear to lack the antigens which normally cause an inflammation typical of
that damage cells and body tissues. The monkey-related stealth virus they are studying is a
cytomegalovirus belonging to the herpes virus family that causes an atypical viral infection of
the brain - a "stealth virus encephalopathy" - that can produce a spectrum of disease
symptoms without evoking an inflammatory response. Therefore, a person can also become
infected and can carry and transmit the virus to others without exhibiting symptoms. The
stealth virus can remain dormant in an infected but symptomless individual throughout life.
However, in some infected individuals the virus can become active, triggered perhaps by
significant mental or physical stress, and go on to cause atypical responses to normal sensory
input into the brain resulting in sudden, unexplained neurological symptoms. It is thought
that a stealth virus can be transmitted, like HIV, hepatitis B or polio, by coming into direct
contact with the virus (such as ingesting or being injected with a contaminated vaccine) or
coming into contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected individual

CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME, DEPRESSION, ENCEPHALOPATHY In an August
1994 article published in American Journal of Pathologv. Dr. Martin and his colleagues
describe how over a three year period they repeatedly cultured out an atypical cytopathic
virus from a 43-year old woman who became suddenly ill in 1990 with a sore throat, muscle
aches, intense headaches, fever and eventually was hospitalized with suspected
encephalitis/meningitis - although all tests came back negative. She continued to feel ill and
eventually was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome accompanied by severe headaches,
insomnia, memory loss and brain dysfunction. In that same article, Martin et al confirm that
they also cultured out the same atypical virus from a patient with severe encephalopathy who
had a four year history of manic depression.

UNSTABLE VIRUS MUTATES EASILY Several months later in an Ocle published in the
College of American Pathologists magazine CAP Today, Dr. Martin explained that "stealth
viruses have been derived from herpes viruses (and possibly other viruses) by a process of
major gene deletions and mutations. These genetic changes presumably account for the lack
of an appreciable inflammatory response and for the wide host range of infectable cells."
Although he acknowledges that neurological, psychiatric and immune system disorder
symptoms can have a variety of causes, just as stealth viruses present in animals and humans
can have different origins, Martin is pursuing the particular stealth virus he has identified
because he has been able to scientifically prove its genetic relationship to African green
monkey cytomegalovirus. "The animal stealth virus we have identified has an unstable
genome and it mutates easily. It doesn't grow very well in culture and so it can be easily
overlooked during testing. Of concern is the fact that, when you introduce unstable animal
stealth viruses into man, there is a risk of recombinant (the formation of new combinations of
linked genes) events occurring which can produce new kinds of diseases. Now that we have
the technology, it is very important to act immediately to screen viral vaccines for stealth
viruses, to determine who is already infected and to develop therapies to interrupt activation
as well as treat those who already have symptoms."

UNEXPLAINED SEIZURES, DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS, MS, LUPUS,
SCHIZOPHRENIA In the CAP Today article, Dr. Martin reports on several cases including
a 19 year old boy who had suffered unexplained severe brain damage at age 17 and a six
month old infant with unexplained seizures and delayed neurological development. Both
patients had tested negative for brain inflammation but tested positive for stealth virus
infection. In another case Martin describes several more patients who tested positive for
stealth virus infection such as theeen diagnosed by various doctors as having multiple
sclerosis, lupus and cerebral pseudotumor and a woman who was diagnosed as schizophrenic
at age 19, then manic depressive with delusions. Four years later she experienced a near-fatal
encephalopathy with cardiac arrest and has remained in a vegetative state for five years. In
one family being studied by Martin and his colleagues, four family members have tested
positive for stealth virus infection including a husband and wife diagnosed with chronic
fatigue syndrome, the wife's mother diagnosed with atypical Parkinson's disease and a son
diagnosed with schizophrenia. All of these patients are now being diagnosed as suffering
from stealth virus encephalopathy.

AUTISTIC CHILD INFECTED WITH STEALTH VIRUS In a letter published in early 1995
in the Journal of Autism and developmental Disorders, Dr. Martin described the case of a 10
year old boy who began exhibiting autistic behavior at age one, was diagnosed as classically
autistic at age four and currently exhibits ritualistic and aggressive behavior that is so
difficult to control that he has been institutionalized. He has repeatedly tested positive for
infection with the stealth virus and Martin concluded, "Repeated culturing a stealth virus
from an autistic patient does not establish that the virus is responsible for the patient's
illness. Symptoms of autism are, however, consistent with impaired neurosensory functions
due to persistent viral infection and previous attempts to demonstrate viruses in such patients
may have failed to detect stealth viruses."

DNA SEQUENCING OF VIRUS LEADS TO MONKEY ORIGINS In an article published
in the July 1995 issue of Clinical and Diagnostic Virology, Martin and his colleagues
describe how they conducted DNA and amino acid sequence comparisons showing that the
stealth virus isolated from a patient with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was "more closely
related to the Colburn strain of simian chan to cytomegalovirus of either human or rhesus
monkey origin or to any other sequenced herpes virus." These comparisons were confirmed
using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The scientists concluded that "the findings implicate
the African green monkey as the probable source of the virus isolated from this CFS
patient." They go on to suggest that "the potential introduction of pathogenic viral variants
into humans through the use of African green monkey-derived cell lines in live virus vaccine
production should be evaluated."

ANlMALS GET SICK TOO Martin and his colleagues have performed more than 1,000
cultures in their eight-year study of the stealth virus and have found that not only is there a
clustering of culture positive findings in members Of the same families but that there is also
a pattern of unexplained neurological illnesses in the pet dogs and cats of patients diagnosed
with chronic fatigue syndrome, indicating that the stealth virus may also be capable of
infecting and being carried by animals. Testing this hypothesis, the scientists have isolated
the monkey-related stealth virus from a culture-positive human patient and injected it into
cats. In an article to be published in the December issue of Pathobiology, they report their
remarkable findings of what happens to the cats after they have been infected with the Virus.

THE MONEY HAS RUN OUT A casualty of the budget cuts that are hitting California and
other localities across the country, the minimal funding that has helped USC's Infectious
Diseases and Molecular Pathology Lab conduct stealth virus research has now been
exhausted. The Lab has been forced to drastically cut back on its research linking the
proliferation of atypical neurologic, psychiatric and immune system disorders in children and
adults to the detection of an atypical cytomegalovirus whose genetic code is almost identical
to that of a virus that is commonly present in the kidney tissuesn green monkey and could
have, therefore, been inadvertently transmitted to humans during the production of the oral
polio vaccine. Committed to continuing their research because they know their discovery has
the potential to save lives, Martin and his seven colleagues have continued to work without
pay for the past month in an effort to keep USC's lab open.

AN APPEAL TO THE FDA Dr. Martin, who is professor of pathology and director of
USC's Infectious Diseases and Molecular Pathology Lab, has received numerous awards,
scholarships and fellowships during his 30-year career as a distinguished scientist at Harvard,
University College in London, University of Sydney in Australia, NIH, Food and Drug
Administration, and the National Cancer Institute. In June, Dr. Martin and S. Zaki
Salahuddin, Ph.D., Li Chang Zeng, M.D., Khalid Ahmed, M.T., Jing G. Seward, M.D.,
John-Carl Olsen, Inderjit Singh Seehrai, M.D., and Mark Nowicki, Ph.D., applied to the
FDA for a 6-month grant to: 1) Determine the prevalence of simian cytomegalovirus derived
stealth viral infection in humans; They are proposing a simple, quick and cost-effective way
to do that by performing serological, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and viral culture
testing of blood and lymphocyte samples already stored in the National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute at NIH which were obtained during the federally funded Transfusion Safety
Study (TSS) conducted in the 1980's. The University of Southern California acted as the
prime contractor for the TSS, a study which was conducted because of the fear that blood
products were contaminated with viruses, including HIV. The goal of the Transfusion Safety
Study was to try to determine the prevalence of viral infections, including HIV, in well
defined populations in the U.S. In addition to the proposal to test the TSS samples for stealth
virus infection, Martin has already obtained permission from the Los Angeles County -
Univhern California Medical Center's Institutional Review Board to test blood and fluid
samples stored in their archives if funding can be obtained to do it. The scientists estimate
that if they tested a total of 250 blood samples from both of these sources, it would be
adequate to make an initial scientific determination of the scope of stealth virus presence in
the U.S. population. 2) To screen monkey colonies used for the production of viral vaccines
for the presence of stealth viruses. They are proposing that immediate steps be taken to stop
using monkeys that are infected with the stealth cytomegalovirus to make vaccines by
culturing blood from each monkey designated as a source of kidney tissue for vaccine
production including performing PCR and viral cultures to test for the presence of stealth
virus.

ACT NOW TO SCREEN VACCINES AND BLOOD SUPPLY Martin and his colleagues
concluded their appeal to the FDA to give them a six-month grant to fund their work with
these words: FDA is responsible for the safety of biological products including vaccines and
the Nation's blood supply. As described in the Appendix to this proposal, stealth viruses
have been associated with severe neurological illnesses. It is imperative that the issue of the
potential prior transfer of pathogenic stealth viruses into humans be addressed. This proposal
will provide much needed data to assess the overall prevalence of stealth viral infection and
the proportion of these infections attributed to a cytomegalovirus derived stealth virus of
African green monkey origin. The proposal is also an important step towards ensuring that
future vaccine lots are free of stealth viruses. The findings will also have bearing on the
possible need to screen blood donors for the presence of stealth viruses."

THERAPIES ARE BEING DEVELOPED A major goal of Martin's research is to not only
identify individuals who are infected but to develop antiviral therapies which can intivation of
a stealth virus in infected but symptomless individuals as well as help those who are already
exhibiting mild to severe symptoms. Martin maintains that stealth viruses, whether of animal
or human origin, may also play a role yet to be identified in other illnesses such as
arteriosclerosis, autoimmune thyroid disease, gastrointestinal and kidney disease, infertility
and cancer. He and his colleagues are working on isolating a genetically engineered
component of the stealth virus which an infected individual could take orally to inhibit its
activation and growth.

NVIC WILL OPERATE REGISTRY AND SUPPORT NETWORK In a continuing effort to
collect information from parents of children as well as adults who have been adversely
affected by vaccines, the "National Vaccine Information Center" will expand the scope of its
1 4-year old vaccine reaction registry and begin collecting information and providing
referrals to those who are suffering from unexplained neurological, psychiatric and
autoimmune disorder symptoms that are potentially related to stealth virus infection. Parents
of children or adults who are exhibiting symptoms such as those described in this newsletter
and who want to be included in NVIC's registry will be sent a questionnaire to fill out. To
register and obtain a questionnaire, write to Vaccine Reaction Registry, NVIC, 512 W.
Maple Ave., Suite 206, Vienna, VA 22180. Please include a $5 donation to cover processing
and data entry costs Once the questionnaire is returned, NVIC can offer assistance to
registrars on how they can follow-up and be tested for stealth virus infection and,
additionally, determine whether they should or would like to consider becoming part of the
stealth virus research laboratory test database being developed by the USC lab. NVIC is also
expanding its 14-year old support network to help stealth virus positive individuals to communicate with each other to exchange information as well as becthe promotion of research to develop therapies and prevent infection.

Reprinted in Issue No. 87 of the " Leading Edge International Research Journal " Leading Edge Research Group, P.O. Box 7530, Yelm, Washington 98597 USA

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