This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

... The London Daily Mail newspaper reported the study results, which were delivered at a scientific conference earlier this month by Professor Jose Montoya, M.D., an infectious disease researcher and Associate Professor at Stanford University. The study took place in California, and involved 12 CFS patients who were given the drug valganciclovir, which targets the human herpes virus (HHV-6). Nine of the 12 patients reported a great improvement in their condition...

...“I was amazed by the results,” Professor Montoya was quoted as saying at the infectious diseases clinic he heads at Stanford University. “Donna was sent to me because high levels of another virus (Epstein Barr) had been detected in her system. I found high levels of HHV-6 virus as well, so I treated her with valganciclovir to bring down her viral load. I'd hoped it might help a bit, but I didn't expect the results to be anything so dramatic. It was pure serendipity.” ...

...“I have treated hundreds of immune compromised patients with the drug, so I am very familiar with it,” stated Professor Montoya in The Daily Mail. “It can have serious side-effects including anemia, so you have to monitor patients very carefully...

...Professor Montoya commented on the possibility that the results were just due to a placebo effect. He told the newspaper “that is unlikely because we saw a worsening of each patient's condition around week three to four of the treatment, probably when infected cells were dying off. After that came the improvement. That is not a pattern you get with placebos. But we don't know yet why the drug makes such a difference.” ...

...Now research is showing that these patients have “a disturbance in their body's natural way of dealing with infection,” Professor Malcolm Hooper, Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Sunderland told The Daily Mail. “Anti-viral drugs such as valganciclovir may be allowing it to re-set itself.” ...