{"id":13673,"date":"2017-07-31T05:31:14","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T05:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=13673"},"modified":"2017-07-31T05:39:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T05:39:35","slug":"even-minor-infections-can-cause-mecfs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/even-minor-infections-can-cause-mecfs\/","title":{"rendered":"Even \u201cminor\u201d infections can cause ME\/CFS"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Simmaron Research<\/strong>\u00a0blog post, by Cort Johnson, 5 July 2017: <a href=\"http:\/\/simmaronresearch.com\/2017\/07\/giardia-chronic-fatigue-infectious-illness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Even \u201cMinor\u201d Infections Can Cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME\/CFS)<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Giardia hasn\u2019t historically ranked high as a potential cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME\/CFS). Some anecdotal reports suggest that a Giardia\u00a0outbreak may have occurred prior to the Incline Village ME\/CFS outbreak in the 1980\u2019s. More recently, Corinne Blandino\u2019s severe, decades long case of ME\/CFS \u2013 which originated with an exposure to Giardia at work \u2013 demonstrated how devastating a case of Giardia triggered ME\/CFS can be.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13795 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Giardia_infection.jpg?resize=600%2C450\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Giardia_infection.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Giardia_infection.jpg?resize=150%2C113&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Giardia_infection.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 600px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 600\/450;\" \/>It wasn\u2019t until city in Norway got exposed to Giardia in 2004, however, that Giardia, a protozoa, became one of the pathogens definitively linked with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME\/CFS). Large studies (n=1254) examining the aftermath of the outbreak in a public water system in Bergen found that five years later, almost 50% of those originally infected still had symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and\/or chronic fatigue (post-infectious chronic fatigue).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cOther patients suffer a severe, long lasting illness, for which treatment is ineffectual, and even after the parasite has \ufb01nally been eliminated, some sequelae persist, affecting quality of life and continuing to cause the patient discomfort or pain\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/20056486\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LJ Robertson<\/a> et al, 2010)<\/p>\n<p>Five percent suffered from fatigue severe enough for them to lose employment or be unable to continue their education. Interestingly, all had taken anti-parasitic drugs and all had apparently cleared the pathogen from their systems.\u00a0 Five years later, 30% were deemed to have an ME\/CFS-like illness and almost 40% had irritable bowel syndrome\u00a0 (IBS).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/phoenixrising.me\/archives\/14577\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Giardia \u2018Syndrome\u2019 Strikes: Norwegian Studies Suggest \u2018Minor Bugs\u2019 May Commonly Trigger Chronic Fatigue Syndrome As Well<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMinor\u201d Infection \u2013 Sometimes Serious Results<\/strong><br \/>\nBy all accounts Giardia shouldn\u2019t be doing this. Giardia is not normally considered a serious infection. Most people have some diarrhea and pass the bug quickly \u2013 and if they don\u2019t, antibiotics are usually (but not always) effective. Giardia, seemingly, produces the kind of \u201cminor\u201d infection that our medical system doesn\u2019t spend much time on.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/giardia-infection\/basics\/definition\/con-20024686\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Mayo Clinic <\/a>reports that Giardia infection (giardiasis) is one of the most common causes of waterborne illness in the United States. The parasites are found in backcountry streams and lakes throughout the U.S., but can also be found in municipal water supplies, swimming pools, whirlpool spas and wells. Giardia infection can be transmitted through food and person-to-person contact.<\/p>\n<p>Research studies are slowly revealing that the effects of even vanquished Giardia infections can be long lasting for some. The Mayo Clinic reports that intestinal problems such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/giardia-infection\/basics\/complications\/con-20024686\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lactose intolerance<\/a> \u00a0may be present long after the parasites are gone. (Even though half a dozen studies have been published on the Bergen outbreak, Mayo fails to note that long term issues with fatigue and pain (or ME\/CFS) may result).<\/p>\n<p>The Bergen studies indicate, however, that this rather common infection worldwide can cause long term and even at times debilitating fatigue as well. The takeaway lesson from the Bergen studies is that one doesn\u2019t need to have mono, Ross-River virus or Valley fever or any of several serious infections to get seriously afflicted. As Dr. Chia has been saying about enteroviruses for years, any minor infection has the potential to cause ME\/CFS in the right person.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/simmaronresearch.com\/2017\/07\/giardia-chronic-fatigue-infectious-illness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more about the research into Giardia and ME\/CFS\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simmaron Research\u00a0blog post, by Cort Johnson, 5 July 2017: Even \u201cMinor\u201d Infections Can Cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME\/CFS) Giardia hasn\u2019t historically ranked high as a potential cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME\/CFS). Some anecdotal reports suggest that a Giardia\u00a0outbreak may &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/even-minor-infections-can-cause-mecfs\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[618,221,224,1084,1784,608,610],"class_list":["post-13673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cort-johnson","tag-ebv","tag-epstein-barr-virus","tag-giardia-infection","tag-herpesviruses","tag-ibs","tag-irritable-bowel-syndrome"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5qkYK-3yx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13673"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13796,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13673\/revisions\/13796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}