Mr. Scott welcomed all to the conference and told of a speaker, Basil Earle Wainwright, who was scheduled to present a talk on his treatment methodology via satellite from Africa. Mr. Wainwright has disappeared and has not been heard from in months. He had sent Mr. Scott a lengthy manuscript which will be sold in the future by Common Cause along with several video tapes of accolades from patients. Among them was the niece of Boris Yeltsin who had leukemia and contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. She was cured of both and her grateful mother appears on the videos. Mr. Wainwright is no stranger to controversy. He was invited to Miami to demonstrate his method to an AIDS group. The meeting was invaded by the FBI and CDC and Wainwright was imprisoned and held for four years without a trial. Senator Moynihan intervened and gained his release.

Dr. Garth Nicolson was the keynote speaker. He heads the non-profit Institute for Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. and felt, "No one approach or modality of treatment will succeed with these multifactorial illnesses." Indeed, mycoplasmas, clamydia pneumoniae, rikettsia, brucella, borrelia, or coxiella can be causative or a co-factor or just an opportunistic factor. It seems more than likely that they are opportunistic since he’s seen more and more with chronic illnesses that have compromised the immune system. Gulf War Illness, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, and ME/CFIDS are "increasing in frequency in our population."

Most chronic illnesses combine bacteria, viruses, and fungi which make the illnesses far more difficult to treat. Speaking to those who prejudge an illness, he said, "People who are sick don’t want to be sick...they do not want to remain sick or to remain dependent." Not being able to identify the cause only means we need better science but it does not mean that it is all in the head.

Dr. Nicolson feels the overlap between FMS and CFIDS are so overwhelming that it is only the symptoms that bother one the most that leads to which one is diagnosed. When one has the illness in an extreme state, it results in severe inflammation. In GWI, there is only one infection in 80% vs. CFIDS/ME (including FMS) where multiple infections are seen. The longer one is sick, the more infections one will encounter. The Department of Defense, now doing work on GWI, has found the same numbers as he did: 40-45% have GWI, 50-70% have ME/CFIDS.

He believes that mycoplasmas are so misunderstood that they are either not treated or they are inappropriately treated. The Armed Forces, after the government gave him so much grief about his work, has a patent of what he found! He suggests treating with antibiotic regimens in several 5 week cycles if you are found positive. Mycoplasmas are intracellular and, thus, hard to treat. The VA Cooperatives are now using antibiotics at 6, 12, and 18 month periods. The initial response will be a herxheimer reaction. There aren’t any miracle treatments and improving is a slow process. Along with his regimen (available under our materials section), he recommends B complex vitamins taken sublingually. He is now experimenting with the hyperbaric chamber oxidative therapy but feels the IV peroxide therapy can be dangerous. Yes, mycoplasmas are contagious. They can be passed on to animals as well. The following week, Dr. Nicolson planned to be in Washington, D.C. to testify against anthrax. "No one," he said, "me included, has all the answers to your disease. Each patient is unique." He exclaimed that he was lucky "to be standing here today. We found genes that would allow so many things that they had to biologically altered." Indeed, they tried to discredit him for so many years that his work cannot be talked about very much.

<picture of snake who swallowed egg here>

But Dr. Simpson went no further. David Berg has found that white people are susceptible to this and Black Americans have a resistance to it. This is why there are fewer Black people that have this problem. The structural changes in ME/CFIDS lead to reduced blood flow. Sedimentation rates of below 5 are indicative of a hypercoag state. The testing of a patient may be normal, positive showing a coagulation problem, positive antibodies that give an explanation of what is going on, or a positive HTRP which determines which protein is defective and how therapy will work. The vessels become damaged when thick blood or "sticky blood" has trouble moving through. In a study with David Bell, M.D., he found a false positive of only 4%. In a mother-daughter study done with Jeanne Hubbuch, M.D., where the daughter was bedridden, he found the mother was infected as well. The daughter has now gone back to college after treatment. Again, with Dr. Hubbuch, Transfer Factor was used along with his protocol and it worked to a great degree. An answer to Dr. Simpson’s question (see Forum Feedback) could very well be complement activation of the red blood cell which is punching holes in it. David Berg will have this answer in a few months when he completes a study that is being helped by funds from The National CFIDS Foundation, Inc. The RBCs balloon and are misshapen due to fibrin as well as its effect on the glass slide itself!

Soluble fibrin makes the rbcs join together and touch each other. It acts just like a glue which makes the blood very thick. This activity, seen below, will appear as low blood volume and is what Drs. Streeten, Bell, and others working with them have found. The answer to Dr. Bell’s questions can be found in live blood analysis.

<insert image B (Fibrin(oid) Deposition on Vessel Walls), and C (Fibrinolysis) here>

If a person tested by Hemex Laboratories taking the ISAC panel has thrombophilia, a heparin protocol followed by Coumadin helps. One who has hypofibrinolysis and is more difficult to treat may be helped by tPA. This is just being investigated. It is a method of "rotorooting" fibrin and cleaning out the vessels in hard to treat patients. Some patients may hear that the parent company of Hemex is in financial difficulty but this does not affect the Hemex Laboratory as they will become independently owned. The test is expensive because 90% of the money is spent on antibody testing. The ISAC panel tests 5 markers of coagulation. Mr. Berg recommends that every patient takes 2 grams of vitamin C daily for more supple cell walls.

Carol Ann Ryser, M.D., is a clinician from Kansas City who combines allopathic alternative medicine with traditional medicine. The data she was missing was the coagulation problem so "I used Dave Berg as a mentor." The most important thing she does is to listen to the patient because those with ME/CFIDS/FMS present a great challenge, sensitivity and astuteness. She finds all respond differently to each problem. She addresses nutrition first and finds that those with leaky guts should not have carbohydrates and glucose is much like alcohol to patients. B12 can help one with their gait as well as cognitive problems. "I feel there is no connection to depression," she stated.`Her work-up includes testing blood cells, platelets, the pituitary-adrenal function, free T3 and T4 activity and antibody studies. Using Heparin and Transfer Factor (TF560) has helped many but Dr. Ryser said the first month is "rough." The second month finds fewer symptoms and the third month finally shows real improvement. Nobody knows how long to stay on TF since it is so new. She orders an ISAC panel every month for those on Heparin to see the improvement and only uses heparin for 6 months so it will cause no problems. Amantadine and Gookinaid (an electrolyte drink) helps many patients. The later she "borrowed" from Paul Cheney, M.D. She also uses Dr. Cheney’s oxygen rebreather for patients (see materials list) and puts every patient on Acidophylis. In the trial using Transfer Factor 560, she found 73% had a rise in NK (natural killer) cells and 50% experienced mild flu-like symptoms for 7 days.

Steven Bock M.D. is from the Center for Progressive Medicine which combines traditional alternative medicine that he said "compliment each other." He explained, "When you are born, you get TF (transfer factor) in breast milk. The TF is antibodies given by the mother to help protect the child. In other words, it gives the child a protective template." Our materials section offers a new article by him on TF recently published in the International Journal of Integrative Medicine (Vol. 2, No. 4, July/August 2000). He puts patients on TF for 3 weeks and off for three weeks. Aside from a Herxheimer effect he sees no adverse side effects. He uses 4Life TF since an antigen-specific one is more expensive.