National CFIDS Foundation Investigative Exclusive ©
Written Permission Required for Reprinting or Distributing
All Rights Reserved: Copyright 2004

 

Introduction
This extensive investigative exclusive is the direct result of
thousands of man-hours of work from patient volunteers at the National
CFIDS Foundation (NCF). In this report, the NCF reveals most of what is
known about Dr. W. John Martin's "stealth virus" and its important
relationship to the ciguatera toxin and potential amyloidoses. An
included timeline shows these discoveries in relationship to research
funding previously provided to Dr. Martin by the CFIDS Association of
America. You were learn how little of the actual facts of his discoveries were ever shared by publication in a medical journal or at conferences by Dr. Martin.

 

Background Information
As you may recall, the NCF began seriously funding its own research,
with substantial capital investment, starting with the role of HTLV-II like viruses and  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) late in 2001. This became our first large project funded under the then new NCF Research Grant Program which began just over two short years ago. (Previous funding was used for projects such as HHV6-A.) The premise for this work was based on several factors that not only included Dr. Elaine DeFreitas' previous publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science but, most importantly, the NCF's discovery of her patent and
intellectual property for her CFIDS Associated Virus (CAV). Because of
the basic uncertainty surrounding this virus, as mentioned in Osler's
Web (Crown Publishing, Hillary Johnson), the NCF persuaded and subsequently funded Dr. Konstance Knox and  Dr. Donald Carrigan, from the Institute for Viral Pathogenesis, to examine these findings and to develop new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) probes to screen for any HTLV-II based viruses in CFS patient sera. Since Dr. DeFreitas' research efforts had taken place in the early 1990's, the NCF felt that much more scientific information had become available over the last ten years regarding this virus. In fact, the HTLV-II viral family now included many variants and strains that  were not described in the medical literature until more recently.

Fortunately, Drs. Knox and Carrigan designed their PCR probes to cover
the numerous variants and strains now found under the HTLV-II umbrella.
With that said, these scientists identified HTLV-II in only 2% of CFS
patient sera they examined in their study funded by the NCF. Now, the
NCF firmly believed that Dr. DeFreitas had discovered something
significant but what exactly was it? (History tells us that her funding was cut off by the CFIDS Association before completion.)

 

Given the newest finding regarding HTLV-II testing in CFS sera, the
NCF could have been very discouraged but was not. The scientific
knowledge gained during this effort led directly to the next critically
important research project funded by the NCF, that of Dr. Yoshitsugi Hokama.

 

As most patients know, Osler's Web laid the groundwork for
investigative reporting for CFS research activity that was accomplished
during those early years from 1984 to 1994. Knowing this, there was
only one other CFS researcher that focused intently on Dr. DeFreitas'
efforts during that time period. That was Dr. W. John Martin! Since
the NCF had already thoroughly researched Dr. Sidney Grossberg's JHK
Virus via his publications and his patents, the NCF knew that it must
thoroughly review the research work of Dr. Martin, too. In those early
days, the CFIDS Association (CAA), then directed by founder Marc
Iverson, had spent substantial research money primarily on Drs.
DeFreitas, Grossberg, and Martin. The NCF felt that these scientists
represented the primary "big three" to examine closely. Since the NCF
had already thoroughly reviewed the research work from Dr. Grossberg and
because it had just finished funding its own work based on Dr.
DeFreitas' efforts, this logically led to the thorough examination of
Dr. Martin's research. Furthermore, during the course of time, the NCF
had the good fortune to have spoken directly to all three of these
researchers in one context or another and could easily judge the
demeanor of each and what their interests were whether casual,
scientific, or inquiring. As a result, the NCF decided that there must
be more information to be found in Dr. Martin's research activity and so
the NCF elected to turn a few more scientific stones over!

 

CFS Politics
The NCF was astonished as to the number of patents that Dr. John
Martin had to his name. In fact, our review concluded that Dr. Martin
had more patents, both issued and applied for, than any other CFS
researcher around the globe! The NCF realized that these patents, filed
exclusively by Dr. Martin himself, required substantial financial
investment to say the least. This indicated to NCF staffers that Dr.
Martin was very serious about his discoveries. The NCF also wondered if
Dr. Martin collaborated with any other scientists or corporations on his
research because his early interactions were well documented in Osler's Web.

 

During our investigation, one of the statements that particularly
intrigued NCF staffers was one that was made by Marc Iverson and
reported in Osler's Web. In 1991, the CAA had awarded Dr. Martin $
40,000 for his initial work. Quoting Osler's Web directly, "Forty grand
to buy agent X, Iverson said marveling." It's one quote that has
lingered in the minds of NCF staffers for some time!

 

The NCF has always paid particular attention to timelines because of
their significance and possible implications. Early in 1991, the CAA
awarded $ 134,200 to Dr. Martin for a grant titled "Detection and
Characterization of an Atypical Virus Cultured from a CFIDS Patient."
The CAA's support was continued the next year, in 1992, awarding an
additional $ 84,000 for a grant titled "Detection and Characterization
of a Viral Infection in Patients with CFS." Thus, throughout 1991 and
1992, Dr. Martin received research funding for his projects directly
from the CAA. This is particularly intriguing because the CAA used to
require quarterly progress reports directly from their funded
researchers to keep them fully informed and in the loop! It was during
this time period that Dr. Paul Cheney travelled to California to visit,
tour and discuss this research with Dr. Martin.

 

Also of interest, late in 1992, the CAA had funded a special grant,
valued at $ 5200, titled "External Review of Dr. Martin's Retroviral
Research." This was directed by Dr. Walter Gunn, then newly retired
from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In fact, according to
Osler's Web, "Martin's standing with the CFIDS Association board was
beginning to crumble under the weight of Walter Gunn's influence...as a
result of Gunn's persuasion, Martin's funding had been severed." There
is no doubt in the minds of NCF staffers that Dr. Martin had a very
interesting working relationship with the CAA regarding his scientific
research and their funding of it!

 

Patents Once Again
The NCF will now show that Dr. John Martin, like other CFS researchers we have previously written about, had placed much of his intellectual
property in his patents and he had not published many of his intriguing
findings in the peer-reviewed medical literature. In fact, even over a
decade later, these important discoveries have yet to be fully disclosed
to the medical community. As a direct result of this knowledge,
patients will now discover the rationale behind the NCF's funded
research efforts which it felt was critically important to the worldwide
CFS patient community. It is without a doubt Dr. Martin became alerted
as to what the NCF was uncovering because he knew the research the NCF
began funding directly resulted from his initial discoveries that he had
held in strictest confidence. Only those who discovered his patents
would gain access to his intellectual property!

 

What Could Have Been
Before beginning, it is certainly noteworthy to mention that Dr.
Martin could have discussed the following research findings at the CFS
conference held in Albany, New York in October 1992, but he failed to do
so even though he had already completed much of this work in its
entirety. How this information may have changed the view of this
disease at that time is now only speculative. The NCF does know however
that patients lost a decade in this scientific discovery process! Now,
because the NCF has carefully secured all of the research work discussed
here are they able to formally disclose these important scientific facts.

 

Medical Science - No More Secrets
One of the earliest and most informative patents was issued to Dr.
Martin on November 26, 1992, just one month after the Albany
conference. This patent, titled "Stealth Virus Detection in the Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome" was filed on May 22, 1992 but was a continuation of a
patent first filed on September 20, 1991. This patent was filed for
during the time period Dr. Martin received research funding directly
from the CAA. The patent abstract clearly stated that the invention
related "to methods for diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome and certain
other neurological, psychiatric, rheumatological and other stealth virus
associated diseases in humans and in animals....The viral detection
assays can be applied to the pre-clinical and clinical monitoring of
potential therapy and also to the detection of possible sources of
infection, including human to human contact, blood products, domestic
pets, farm animals, uncooked foods, vaccines and other environmental
sources....A toxin associated with stealth virus, an antiviral
composition comprising the toxin, and methods of monitoring disease
state based on detecting the level of toxin or its toxic activity are
described."

 

In his patent, Dr. Martin explained that there is a stealth virus
associated toxin and that this toxin is characterized by activity in a
ciguatera toxin specific immunoassay! Furthermore, in culture, this
toxin acts to suppress the cytopathic effects of the stealth virus
itself. This cytopathic effect can also be suppressed by
alpha-interferon, lithium, and cerulenin, a fatty acid synthase
inhibitor. Thus, reactivity in the ciguatera immunoassay test is a
direct indicator and marker for a stealth virus infection by Dr.
Martin's own words found in his patent! Furthermore, Dr. Martin stated
that "The level of toxin may be monitored to indicate progression of
disease and presumptive evidence for actual viral infection rather than
ingestion simply of the toxin." This information has never been
disclosed in his peer-reviewed medical journal articles!

 

The NCF had uncovered this information in February 2002,
approximately ten years after this work was completed and the patent was
issued! As a result of action immediately taken by the NCF's Board of
Directors, the NCF contacted and shared this data with Dr. Yoshitsugi
Hokama, from the Pathology Department at the University of Hawaii's John
A. Burns School of Medicine.  As you may recall, Dr. Hokama is the world's leading expert on ciguatera toxin. After reviewing all the information that the NCF had shared with him, Dr. Hokama commented that there is something to this discovery. The NCF then asked "How do you know this?" Dr. Hokama commented "because my ciguatera monoclonal antibody was used in the assay!" Dr. Hokama had never seen the information that we had provided to him nor had any of his colleagues in the pathology department been aware of Dr. Martin's discovery. That was a most fortunate turn of events for the NCF. Within a short time period, the NCF provided critical research funding to Dr. Hokama to begin his research into the role of this toxin in CFS patient sera. As a result, Dr. Hokama made his initial
presentation for this work at a toxicology conference in Okinawa, Japan
in November 2002. The NCF issued a formal statement regarding
ciguatoxin reactivity and CFS patient sera in a newswire release to the
press at that time. Dr. Hokama's manuscript for his initial paper was
published in the Journal of Toxicology while his second manuscript
discussed his most extensive findings to date and was published in the
Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis. Another manuscript has been
sent to a medical journal and is awaiting publication as well. In
February 2004, exactly two years after the NCF's discovery of Dr.
Martin's findings, Dr. Hokama received a $ 1 Million dollar, multi-year
grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to
study the role of ciguatera toxin in human disease. Dr. Hokama utilized
the NCF's research grant data on ciguatoxin and CFS patient sera
reactivity to form the foundational basis for his grant application as
well as for his future research efforts! Furthermore, by confirming and
verifying the presence of specific reactivity to ciguatera by these NCF
sponsored independent research studies, the NCF was able to conclude
that Dr. Martin had in fact found another piece of the CFS puzzle just
as Dr. DeFreitas had. Once again however, the NCF asked what exactly
had Dr. Martin really found?

 

The Unravelling
According to his patent, Dr. Martin collaborated with Dr. Douglas
Park on the ciguatera discovery. Dr. Park is currently employed by the
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). Dr. Martin sent Dr. Park material from stealth
virus infected cultures and Dr. Park tested them for reactivity to the
ciguatera toxin. These culture materials tested positive. After this,
CFS patient sera was subsequently sent to Dr. Park for testing and these
tested positive for ciguatera toxin reactivity as well. Quoting the
patent "These findings led to the suggestion that chronic disease
following apparent ciguatera poisoning may be the result not of the
toxin itself but of infection with a toxin producing microorganism,
possibly a stealth virus." Dr. Martin concluded that "A stealth
virus-associated toxin is found in tissue culture fluid of in-vitro
cultures and in the serum of some patients with chronic fatigue
syndrome. This toxin may itself cause symptoms of CFS or of other
illnesses associated with stealth virus infection....it also suggests
that chronic illness resulting from ciguatera associated poisoning may
reflect not simply the ingestion of the toxin but rather actual
infection with a stealth virus capable of continued production of the
toxin in the affected subject." Furthermore, Dr. Martin stated that
"One conclusion from the studies described above is that a virus, rather
than the toxin itself may be involved in the transmission of the toxin
within this food chain." Dr. Martin had developed a strategic ally with
Dr. Park at the FDA. Anyway you sliced it, the NCF now knew that
someone at the FDA had full knowledge of this important discovery!

 

Digging deeper, the NCF found that Dr. Douglas Park also had several
patents of his own on the relationship between CFS patient sera and
ciguatoxin. His patent, titled "Rapid Extraction of Ciguatoxin from
Contaminated Tissues" was first filed on May 1, 1992 and issued on
November 11, 1993. In his patent, Dr. Park disclosed the reactivity of
CFS patient sera with ciguatoxin and compared this finding to patients
with ciguatera intoxication. Dr. Park stated that ciguatoxin-reactive
substances were being produced in the CFS patient sera.

 

The Probe Continues
During the NCF's investigation, three companies kept coming up in
our searches that were tied to this ciguatera discovery. They were
Hawaii Chemtect Inc., California South Pacific Investors and SIRA
Technologies Inc. The NCF's research showed that these companies were
apparently all tied to the same street address in Pasadena, California.
Coincidently, Dr. Martin also resides in Pasadena as well. California
South Pacific Investors and SIRA Technologies are directly connected to
their parent company known as the Athanor Group. Selecting California
South Pacific Investors on the Athanor Group's website takes you
directly to the SIRA Technologies website.

 

SIRA Technologies is involved with food, environmental and
pharmaceutical safety. SIRA has developed the Food Package Sentinel
System which monitors food for contamination. On the SIRA Technologies
website, there is extensive information about ciguatera poisoning. In
fact, one comment made on their website is "SIRA Technologies
established a substantial link between a widespread
environmentally-based ocean toxin, specific fish that ingest it and
then, with alarming frequency, become responsible for a crippling
disease in humans." The NCF feels that this comment sounds like a
description of CFS! What the NCF found most interesting is one
particular reference provided about ciguatera poisoning. On SIRA's
website, under ciguatoxin published documents, the NCF found the following: Possible Link Between Ciguatera Fish Poisoning and Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome, Unpublished Study (CFS Study); Park DL, Gamboa PM, King KM, Goldsmith CH, Dominguez KL, Santiago A, Martin J

 

This provided an interesting connection between Dr. John Martin, Dr.
Douglas Park and SIRA Technologies. This is not surprising since Dr.
Martin mentions Dr. Park in his patent. Likewise, Dr. Park has patents
assigned to Hawaii Chemtect and California South Pacific Investors. One
possible explanation as to the potential financial significance of this
ciguatera finding is to consider the following: In a 1998 report by the
Athanor Group, the Athanor Group invested $ 146,000 in California South
Pacific Investors. California South Pacific Investors, through its
wholly owned subsidiaries, has developed and patented biochemical
product-identifying barcodes for detecting harmful pathogens in meats,
poultry and dairy products. However, the really big news came from the
Athanor Group, in 1999, where the Athanor Group stated in their report
that the Athanor Group "has made a series of modest investments totaling
$ 161,000 in California South Pacific Investors, a food safety company.
California South Pacific Investors owns a series of patents providing
screening of toxins in seafood and a food sentinel system that detects
harmful bacterial pathogens in meat, fowl, and fish.... California South
Pacific Investors is currently negotiating strategic relationships with
several large food companies, as well as the United States military.
California South Pacific Investors informs us that they are discussing
additional funding including a possible IPO with a number of investment
banking companies." There you have it, a possible IPO. IPO is the
acronym for Initial Public Offering and that, folks, is how you make some
real serious money; to take a company public via stock offerings! Those
who follow IPO offerings will tell you that the principals (principal
investors, researchers, etc.) can make millions of dollars through such
an offering. Furthermore, the company is negotiating with the U.S.
military! Now you can see why it was imperative for the NCF to drop
this into the hands of attorneys for safe keeping and why this is so
very important. You can now understand why the NCF funded the work that
it placed onto its table as fast as it could. It was necessary for the
NCF to put pieces of the research puzzle together with the commercial
and financial implications. Certainly some big bucks could be made here
at the expense of those with this disease worldwide without their
knowledge! Even the military would know about testing that screened for
ciguatera! The NCF felt that it had a moral obligation to its patients
to scientifically verify these discoveries and to disclose this vitally
important information to the patient community as rapidly as it could.
The NCF felt that no one should capitalize on this at the expense of
critically ill patients. These are just some of the ramifications of
the ciguatera toxin discovery.

 

Association with Kuru?
Another interesting patent, issued to Dr. Martin, stated that
"stealth viruses were derived from patients with multi-system acute and
chronic illnesses, including but not limited to neurodegenerative
diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, malignancies, chronic fatigue
syndrome and autoimmune conditions." However, in this patent, Dr.
Martin discusses the relationship of stealth viruses to kuru.

 

In his work, Dr. Martin had contacted Dr. Clarence J. Gibbs at the
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Gibbs was an
associate of Dr. D.Carleton Gajdusek. Dr. Gibbs supplied Dr. Martin
with blood samples from two kuru patients. Kuru is a rare and fatal
brain disorder that occurred at epidemic levels during the 1950's-60's
among the Fore people in the highlands of New Guinea. The disease was
the result of the practice of ritualistic cannibalism among the Fore, in
which relatives prepared and consumed the tissues, including brain, of
deceased family members. Brain tissue from individuals with kuru was
highly infectious, and the disease was transmitted either through eating
or by contact with open sores or wounds. Kuru belongs to a class of
infectious diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
(TSEs), also known as prion diseases. The hallmark of a TSE disease is
misshapen protein molecules that clump together and accumulate in brain
tissue. Scientists believe that misshapen prion proteins have the
ability to change their shape and cause other proteins of the same type
to also change shape. Other TSEs include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and
fatal familial insomnia in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in
cattle (also known as mad cow disease), scrapie in sheep and goats, and
chronic wasting disease in deer and elk. Prion based diseases are
amyloidogenic. The NCF has already funded research work into the role
of amyloid formation in patients. Futhermore, the CDC had recently
acknowledged their finding of an amyloid in patients with CFS as well.

 

Dr. Martin discussed the results of this research: "These
preliminary findings help establish a possible relationship between
stealth viruses and the agent responsible for kuru." The NCF began to
wonder if we were now looking at a spongiform encephalopathy due to a
prion? If this turned out to be true, the NCF knew that governmental
health authorities would have a serious crisis on their hands.

 

Epione Revealed
Epione is defined by Dr. Martin as an inhibitor of stealth viruses.
According to Dr. Martin "observations have suggested that the inhibitors
are a molecularly diverse range of relatively small RNA molecules,
possibly in the form of ribonucleoproteins, that are able to partially,
and in the case of the homologous stealth virus, near completely
suppress virus CPE. It will be useful to quantitate the production of
inhibitor by a patient's mononuclear cells and to use this system to
find ways to upregulate inhibitor production, in the absence of
production of infectious virus." Dr. Martin continues "In a new
finding, inhibitory material could be detected in the supernatant of
patient's mononuclear cells cultured for 24 hours, and even in the
supernatant of thawed mononuclear cells as used in the routine stealth
virus cultures. The inhibitory material can be passed through an Amicon
filter with 30,000 molecular weight protein cutoff....It should be noted
that the inhibitor has been tentatively called Epione after the wife of
Ascepius, a famous Greek physician. It was said that Epione had the
ability to soothe pain and for this reason, the name was chosen for the
inhibitory material found in nonprogessing stealth virus cultures. In
preferred embodiments, Epione is obtained from any of the following
sources: Mononuclear cells obtained from a patient or infected animal;
infrequently fed stealth virus cultures; recombinant technology based on
known sequences of a stealth virus."

 

Other Findings
The NCF felt that it should mention other noteworthy findings as a
result of Dr. Martin's research. Dr. Martin discovered that the stealth
virus could be propagated and replicated by using an insect cell line.
This is intriguing because human viruses don't replicate in insect
cells. Dr. Martin also found that this virus could infect cats. This
work was previously published with Dr. Thomas Glass, a professor of
pathology at Oklahoma State University. In fact, Dr. Martin was able to
infect cats directly with the stealth virus obtained from a culture.
Another of Dr. Martin's findings was that patients, with stealth virus
infections, are producing a fluorescent material known as humic/fulvic acid. Humic and fulvic acids are produced via decomposition or in other words, the direct result of cellular death.

 

Stealth Viruses
According to a NBC News investigative report, Dr. Martin described
the stealth virus on camera as "a stealth virus is a virus that has lost
the components that the immune system would recognize." According to
this same NBC News report, several patients had given Dr. Martin several
hundreds of thousands of dollars so that he could continue to pursue his
stealth virus research because Dr. Martin had told patients that this
infection could be fatal. In this same television interview, Ana
Garcia, a NBC reporter, mentioned that one non-profit organization
looking for the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome gave Dr. Martin $
231,000 in research money. Obviously, this was the CAA as this was
in-line with the CAA's 1991/1992 annual report!

 

According to Dr. Martin's patents "Stealth viruses were defined as a
molecularly heterogeneous grouping of atypically structured, cytopathic
viruses that cause persistent systemic infection frequently associated
with neuropsychiatric symptoms, in the absence of significant anti-viral
cellular inflammation. Stealth viruses typically induce a vacuolating
foamy CPE in a range of human and animal cell lines. The formation,
progression, and/or host range of the CPE distinguish stealth viruses
from traditional human cytopathic viruses, including herpesviruses,
enteroviruses and adenoviruses. Additional distinctions from
conventional viruses can be made on the basis of electron microscopy,
serology and molecular-based studies. The definition of stealth viruses
does not follow the approach outlined above of using restrictive
criteria based on either the virus genomic sequence or the virus
morphology. Rather the approach taken to initially define stealth
viruses was based on the foamy vacuolating CPE and other in-vitro growth
characteristics and on the exclusion of other known viruses. As the
research work progressed, several individual stealth virus isolates were
characterized in terms of or conventional criteria, including their
electron micrographic appearance, electrophoretic pattern of isolated
DNA and RNA, partial sequencing and determination of probable origin.
Even with the best characterized of these stealth virus isolates,
however, the strict chemical and morphological classification schemes
fail to account for the microheterogeneity and sub-genomic expression
that is observed within a single isolate. Moreover, the precise
chemical features of one isolate do not adequately encompass the broader
concept of a diverse group of cytopathic viruses in which deletion
and/or mutation of the major immunogenic components has occurred.
Stealth adaptation is viewed as a mechanism to facilitate persistent
infection by structural loss of the normal capacity of conventional
viruses to evoke an effective anti-viral cellular inflammatory
response. Given these considerations, stealth viruses have not
originated from a single source. It is likely that stealth adaptation
can occur with all of the presently known human herpesviruses and many
of the herpesviruses known to infect animals. Viral sources other than
herpesviruses are not excluded, and, in fact, have been suggested in
various studies. Indeed, as viruses downsize and simplify, their
initial distinguishing characteristics tend to become less important
compared to their common pathogenic capacity of overtaxing the metabolic
resources of the cell."

 

And what does the NCF think about stealth viruses? Dr. John Martin
has openly stated that the stealth virus was derived from an African
green monkey cytomegalovirus. Of course, the NCF realizes, first and
foremost, that you can't find the words "stealth virus" in Field's
Virology! However, Dr. Brian Mahy, who is a senior scientist with the
National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), stated the following about stealth viruses in the NBC
News television interview: "There's no such virus that's been validated
or shown to be true." In this same interview, Dr. Shirley Fannin, head
of the Disease Control Unit of the L.A. County Health Department, stated
that the stealth virus "doesn't exist." The NCF believes there are many
questions about Dr. Martin's research still to be answered. However,
given our own extensive investigation, Dr. Martin definitely found
something in CFS patient sera that does in fact react with the
ciguatoxin immunoassay! Because the NCF had previously shared Dr.
Martin's stealth virus information with several highly respected
virology teams located around the world, the NCF has come to other
scientific conclusions regarding the stealth virus.

 

In light of this report, the NCF does believe that there should be a
formal probe and inquiry into Dr. Douglas Park, at the FDA; Dr. Clarence
J. Gibbs, at the NIH; and Dr. Walter Gunn, formerly from the CDC; all
of whom had scientific knowledge and therefore some possible role in Dr.
Martin's stealth virus research. In addition, the NCF is also calling
for an inquiry into the "negotiations" involving California South
Pacific Investors / Sira Technologies with the U.S. Military. As a
result of this investigative report, the NCF has sent letters seeking
further information.

 

Currently the NCF's own research efforts are focused on clarifying
and solidifying the medical science mentioned in this investigative
report as well as, when our funding allows, to identify the potential infectious agent tied to the ciguatoxin discovery.

 

Summary of Dr. John Martin's Research
* Stealth virus associated toxin is present in CFS sera
* Toxin is characterized by activity in ciguatera toxin immunoassay
* Toxin research completed during time period paid for by the CFIDS
Association (CAA)
* Possible relationship of stealth virus to kuru
* Stealth virus replicates in insect cells
* Research is to be commercialized
* State and Federal agencies are disbelievers

 

The National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. is the largest, all volunteer,
and fastest growing non-profit CFIDS organization in the U.S. Because
we have no paid staff, 100% of all donations go directly to research.

 

References:
1. Osler's Web, Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Epidemic; Hillary
Johnson; Crown Publishers, Inc; 1996; ISBN # 0-517-70353-X
2. World Patent # WO9220787; issued November 26, 1992; filed May 22,
1992; continuation
in patent filed September 20, 1991; titled Stealth virus detection
in the Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome; Inventor: William John Martin; Applicant: William John
Martin
3. World Patent # WO9960101; issued November 25, 1999; filed May 19,
1999; titled
Isolated stealth viruses and related vaccines; Inventor: William
John Martin; Applicant:
William John Martin
4. US Patent # 5,753,488; issued May 19, 1998; filed June 5, 1995;
continuation in patent
filed September 20, 1991; titled Isolated stealth viruses and
related vaccines; Inventor:
William John Martin; Applicant: William John Martin
5. US Patent Application # 20030134271; published July 17, 2003; filed
January 15, 2002;
titled Diagnosing and monitoring the therapy of stealth virus
infections based on the
detection of auto-fluorescent material in hair; Inventor: William
John Martin; Applicant:
William John Martin
6. US Patent Application # 20040009467; published January 15, 2004;
filed July 10, 2002;
titled ACE-pigments and humic acid as energy sources; Inventor:
William John Martin;
Applicant: William John Martin
7. World Patent # WO9322672; issued November 11, 1993; filed May 1,
1992; titled Rapid
extraction of ciguatoxin from contaminated tissues; Inventors:
Douglas L Park, Pedro M
Gamboa; Applicant: Hawaii Chemtect Inc.
8. US Patent # 5,286,498; issued February 15, 1994; filed May 1, 1992;
titled Rapid extraction
of ciguatoxin from contaminated tissues; Inventors: Douglas L Park,
Pedro M Gamboa;
Applicant: Hawaii Chemtect Inc.
9. European Patent # EP0933636; issued August 4, 1999; filed April 27,
1993; titled Rapid
extraction of ciguatoxin from contaminated tissues; Inventors:
Pedro M Gamboa; Douglas
L Park; Applicant: Hawaii Chemtect Inc.
10. World Patent # WO9914598; issued March 25, 1999; filed September
15, 1998; titled Food
sentinel system; Inventors: Catherine Goldsmith, Carlos E Ayala,
Douglas L Park, Robert M
Goldsmith, James G Woodaman; Applicant: California South Pacific
Investors
11. US Patent Application # 20010021531; published September 13, 2001;
filed May 14, 2001;
titled Food contamination detection system for vacuum packaged
food products;
Inventor: Robert M Goldsmith; Applicant: SIRA Technologies Inc.
12. US Patent Application # 20020072079; published June 13, 2002; filed
August 10, 2001;
titled Detection of contaminants in food; Inventor: James G
Woodaman; Applicant: SIRA
Technologies Inc.
13. NCF Supplemental note: California South Pacific Investors, SIRA
Technologies, and
Dr. John Martin all used the same patent attorney firm to file
their patents.
14. California South Pacific Investors; Athanor Group, 1999;
Athanor Group website: http://www.athanorgroupinc.com/letters.htm
15. California South Pacific Investors; Athanor Group, 1998;
Athanor Group website: http://www.athanorgroupinc.com/1998shl.htm
16. SIRA Technologies website: www.siratechnologies.com
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Gamboa, PM, King, KM,
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SIRA Technologies website:
http://www.siratechnologies.com/fspem/cfp_published.html
18. Acute encephalopathy induced in cats with a stealth virus isolated
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1991 & 1992
20. NINDS Kuru Information Page; National Institute of Neurological
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http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/kuru.htm
21. Short summary of CFSAC meeting; Co-Cure; September 29, 2003
22. Disease or deception; NBC Nightly News; Los Angeles, California;
Team 4 TV  Investigative Report by Ana Garcia on Dr. W. John Martin and
stealth viruses; February 13, 2003
    
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